DC Evangelion
by Snowy Mountain
Summary: What if the greatest humanoid fighting machines were not built from the Angels DNA but Kryptonian? Crossover/fusion with DC Comics.
1. The Stumble that Changed the World

**Disclaimer: **Superman_ belongs to _DC Comics_ which last I heard is part of _Warner Brothers. Neon Genesis Evangelion_ on the other hand is the property of _Gainax_. I don't own either, I'm just playing around with them. I promise I'll give 'em back when I'm done with 'em. Really. _

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**DC Evangelion**

_**Chapter 1: **__The Stumble that Changed the World_

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The ground shook and trembled. Cracks formed, radiating outward as the earth split itself apart and a huge gaping chasm formed. There were screams as buildings toppled and collapsed into the new gorge.

But it was only the beginning. The beginning of the end.

Nearby, the ground exploded as a plume of superheated magma erupted, creating a gushing pillar of flame and molten rock. A short distance away, another pillar shot forth. And another. And a third. Then a fourth.

The ground buckled and heaved as it continued to crack and splinter. A mountain groaned and broke apart, creating massive landslides of rock and soil. Nearby, the earth exploded as a new volcano formed, spewing flaming rock and liquefied stone began bubbling up.

He watched until he could watch no more of the horrible sight of his world destroying itself. Of the final death throes of his planet and home. But the memory remained, etched in his mind.

He had known about his world's final fate for some time now. And unlike others who might have fallen into denial or despair, he had done neither. Instead, he had sought to try and prevent this catastrophe. And when he had failed, he had sought to find some way to allow his people to escape and survive.

And he had succeeded.

Almost.

He could not save himself nor his beloved wife. Not even his doomed race. But he could save one. Only one. His son.

Another quake, a much more powerful one buffeted his home and he stumbled, falling to his knees. He winced, feeling his ankle protest the abuse but he was running out of time as he forced himself erect and lunged for the control console.

He ran his hands over the crystalline surfaces. There was a faint hum as the machines activated themselves. He gave the various readouts a brief glance to assure himself of the systems checks and then he turned to face smooth flawless sphere. Dimly in the depth of the light refracting crystal, he saw the tiny helpless form wriggle. He reached out and caressed the smooth surface.

"You will travel far …" he whispered as he heard more people screaming and the crumbling of earth and cracking of stone and splintering echoes of crystal shattering, "my little Kal-El," and he wrapped his hand around a crystalline pyramid and twisted.

Panels retracted and from the floor arose an oblong metal shape. It split into two and wrapped itself around the precious sphere.

There was a loud cracking sound that grew in intensity and power. Krypton was dying, tearing itself apart.

He quickly keyed the final sequence. The engines of the small craft begin to pulse and throb and began to rise. Slowly at first but with increasing speed, it sped upward and higher, fleeing the death of it's doomed world and it's race damned by arrogance and pride.

He watched as the craft disappeared, becoming a glowing star of light as it raced through the upper atmosphere and continued it's upward path.

"Goodbye, my son," Jor-El whispered as he bowed his head and waited for the end.

Although Jor-El was unaware of it, his little stumble had delayed the timely launch of the craft.

And forever changed the course of history.

In many worlds, this small craft carrying it's fragile cargo would make the perilous journey through space to land in the Heartland of America. In a place called Kansas. In a town called Smallville.

There, this ship and its occupant would be found by a kindly couple and adopted as their own. They would name him Clark and would raise him to become Earth's Greatest Hero.

Instead, the ship bearing Kal-El would not land in Kansas. In fact, it sped past America entirely as it descended. Past California and across the Pacific. Where it would make planetfall in a small chain of coastal islands. In a place called Japan.

This is what happened next.

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**A/N: **This was my first fanfiction efforts which appeared on _Anime Aadventures_ under the name "DC Anime". I did some tinkering with it, mainly expanding and improving certain sections. In my original draft, I had intended for this to be a crossover with Ranma ½ but I got sidetracked with Evangelion and ended up with this storyline instead. Who knows? I may decide to actually write that draft out. Someday. But don't get your hopes up.


	2. JSDF On The Scene!

**DC Evangelion**

_**Chapter 2: **__JSDF On The Scene!_

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"—_the Japanese Self Defense Forces has rushed into action, sealing off an area of approximately five miles in diameter. According to a statement released by the JSDF, an extremely toxic chemical spill has—"_

General Hiro Matsudo grunted in satisfaction as he snapped off the mini-TV, cutting off the news reporter's voice over and smiled grimly. "Well, the cover story to the press is holding," he said to himself over the dull roar of the helicopter rotor blades.

"Yes sir," his aide seated next to him agreed as he shuffled through the packet papers.

"You were saying?" Matsuda asked returning his attention to the aide.

The aide picked up a sheet of paper and began reading from it, "At approximately 1842 hours, our radar screen detected a small unidentified object approaching. It was determined that it was slowing down and at approximately 1910 hours, it made landfall. We immediately deployed several groups to investigate. By 2100, our recon force located it. By 2400, we had sealed off a five mile perimeter around the entire area."

Matsuda drummed his fingers on his thigh. "So how did that thing get in our airspace without anybody seeing it? Those radar operators were asleep or something?"

"No. We've been examining the tapes and as far as we can determine, the unidentified object simply wasn't there. No reading, no trace whatsoever," the aide reported.

Matsuda paused, an arrested look on his face as he absorbed that datum. He cocked his head, "Some sort of new stealth technology?"

"Possibly. But the object … it's not missile or a aircraft or anything like that. It … well we're not entirely sure but we don't even think it's terrestrial."

Matsuda was silent for several minutes. Then he shook his head. "Anything else?"

"Yes. The uh … craft wasn't empty. It was carrying an occupant on board."

Matsuda was silent even longer this time. Finally he shook his head and looked at his aide. "Are you telling me that we have an …" he paused and groped for an appropriate word, "an _**alien**_ in custody?"

"Extraterrestrial," the aide corrected, "An XT."

"Okay…" Matsuda muttered and then shook his head again.

"Uh … at least we think it's an XT. The uh … occupant looks … well it looks like a baby sir."

"A baby," Matsuda said flatly.

"A HUMAN baby," the aide expanded.

"Huh," Matsuda said looking dazed. "No little green men. Bet some sci fi fans are going to be crushed," Matsuda remarked. Although, he thought he read an article a few years ago that some scientists now believed a strong possibility that if life did exist in the universe, it would possibly evolve in similar lines as human beings. "Why would aliens send a brat to a planet light years away?" he asked rhetorically.

His aide however assumed Matsuda was asking him and promptly answered, "A probe? An advanced scout for an interplanetary invasion? Maybe they chose a nonthreatening form so we wouldn't terminate or hurt an infant."

"And what? A baby is suppose to conquer this entire planet by himself? Akira Toriyama aside, this is real life not a manga," Matsuda said sourly.

"Sir, it only LOOKS like a baby. Who knows what it really is. A race of people able to traverse space aren't highly advanced and intelligent enough they can't build something that looks like a baby but is actually some sort of doomsday device?"

"Yeah, I buy the part that they could do something like that. It's the why they would bother part that confuses me. I mean if they could do something like that, why not just execute a high orbital kinetic bombardment? Or just spray the atmosphere with some sort of poison or bacterical agent? It would be faster or more efficient," Matsuda leaned back in his seat and stared at the ceiling of the helicopter and thought some more. Then he shook his head, "I just don't buy it. Maybe this thing is some sort of I don't know, escape pod or something that was ejected into space when the spaceship's engine blew up."

The aide nodded, "Another possibly sir," he admitted.

Matsuda decided not to mention that his idea sounded like it was from a comic book. And a badly written one at that.

The noise of the rotors changed as the helicopter began to descend. There was a thump as it touched ground and after a moment, the doors were slide open by a saluting officer. Matsuda unbuckled himself and leapt out and onto the ground with a grunt. "Where's this space ship?" he demanded to the saluting officer as he curtly saluted back.

"Over the hill sir," the officer reported, "We have it covered in camouflage netting. Do you want to see it?" he asked.

Matsuda shook his head, "No, I want to see the XT."

The officer paused, feeling a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach that he was about to plummet to 'Permanent No-Chance-for-Transfer Latrine Scrub Orderly' for the duration of his service career. "I'm afraid that the XT is dead," he said stiffly.

* * *

**ONE MONTH LATER**

Within a darkened room, a group of men silently watch as another image flashes onto the screen. It was gory image of a tiny body but these men had long since become used to these images in the past several hours.

"…skeletal structure is definitely reinforced. Presence of additional ligaments. Strength and elasticity of ligaments are easily six times the durability of terrestrial equivalents. The bone density is the consistency of titanium steel," the pre-recorded voice paused for a moment then continued it's verbal report. "There are several other organs and other internal oddities that we are currently unable to identify or determine what function they performed. This concludes the preliminary autopsy report on … 'The Visitor'."

The screen went to a test pattern before shutting off and the dimmed lights were slowly raised.

General Hiro Matsuda shifted in his seat, "Well now that the preliminaries are out of the way, do you have any questions Doctor?" he asked the only figure sitting at the table not dressed in a military uniform solicitously.

"Several thousand. But for starters, I'll settle for asking about the term they used at the very end. 'The Visitor'?" the Doctor inquired with a raised eyebrow.

"Ah," Matsuda nodded and steepled his fingers, "Due to the classification level, the extraterrestrial is to be designated by a code name in all official reports and documentation. Hence the name, 'The Visitor'."

"Oh."

Matsuda leaned back in his chair as he waited for the scientist to organize his thoughts. "I suppose you're curious as to why you're here Doctor. And why we bothered to reveal this highly sensitive and classified material to you."

"To say the least. Although your presentation was extremely impressive. It also explains the several dozen or so secrecy agreements and classification procedures and waivers I had to read and sign this far," the Doctor remarked blandly.

Matsuda chuckled, "No doubt, Doctor Fuyutsuki."

The tall and lean grey haired Fuyutsuki smiled slightly.

"The Japanese Diet is forming a new organization designed to study the genetic structure of the Visitor, Doctor and we would like you to head the study group," Matsuda continued.

Fuyutsuki considered. He had to admit that he was intrigued. The possibility of studying an actual alien entity wasn't something that came up too often. The opportunity of a lifetime. Several lifetimes really. This could provide tremendous strides in the study of genetics and possibly in the theories of evolution. Could he pass this up? He looked up at Matsuda. "Who else would be the members of this group?" he asked curiously.

Matsuda glanced down at a file folder and flipped it open. "We have a few candidates in mind. I think you know most of them anyways. In fact, one of them is one of a former student of yours. A Miss Ikari Yui …"

Kozo Fuyutsuki looked surprised but pleased. "Yui?" he said thoughtfully. "I'm surprised you're considering her," he remarked.

General Matsuda nodded, "She's awfully young but her work has been rather impressive. And we need minds like her. And yours Professor. We have a list of potential candidates, but naturally it will be your team so we thought you would like to have some input into the composition of the group."

Fuyutsuki rubbed his chin as he considered. "You say I would have some input. How much?"

"We would try to accommodate any nominees you have in mind Professor, but this project is of the highest classification and security. We must request that everyone attached to the Project undergo a rigorous security screening. If they don't pass the security check, we must refuse their inclusion to the Project despite how highly qualified they might be."

Matsuda hesitated as if trying to make up his mind about something. He nodded and decided to grasp the bull by the horns. "You should also be aware that you will probably never be able to discuss or publish any of your research or findings about the Visitor Professor. Even if you do decide not to join the Project, I trust you will remember the non-disclosure agreement you signed beforehand," Matsuda finished with narrowed eyes as if daring Fuyutsuki to blab to the media.

"I remember," Fuyutsuki said wearily. Fuyutsuki wasn't that fond of the military and it was times that these that brutally reminded him of why.

Sheer paranoia for one. _'That's classified. Need to know only. Security clearance required. Loose lips sinks ships and all that gobbledygook.'_

And the military mindset for another. The military was interested in scientific discovery and research. But only when that scientific discovery and research had practical applications. Practical MILITARY applications. Meaning better and improved weapons.

Unfortunately the military did have some advantages that most science laboratories lacked. Better equipment. Better facilities. Bigger budget.

And of course, the most important thing that he didn't have. His eyes flicked back to the color photographs and documents scattered across the table. The Visitor.

They had an actual extraterrestrial. The body of one at least.

An entity which was the product of a totally alien environment. Subject to who knows what sort of factors that caused it to evolve in some spectacular and peculiar manners and fashions.

Cynically, Fuyutsuki wondered if the alien had actually died of _'natural causes'_ or if the military hadn't in a case of overwhelming paranoia decided to _'arrange a fortuitous accident'_.

Part of him felt nauseous at the idea of trying to harvest what appeared to nothing more than a perfectly normal baby for scientific research. Another part, the scientist in him however was mesmerized at the possibilities.

General Hiro Matsuda smiled smugly. The look in Fuyutsuki's eyes were enough. They had him. The man's eyes kept darting furtively at the photographs. He would join the Project. The scientist was too curious, too intrigued not to. It was just a matter of convincing himself to do so.

Matsuda flipped a file folder stamped with JSA in bold print closed. With Fuyutsuki on board, the Japanese Scientific Advisory and Analysis Board just became official.

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**A/N: **When I first posted the original episode on _Anime Aadventures_, a reviewer said that XT doesn't mean anything and that the appropriate acronym was really ET. But I thought that XT sounded much cooler, more militaristic, and more sci fi. Also, whenever someone says ET, I can't help but think of that cute little alien from the Spielberg movie.

I cannot say that I came up with XT on my own, I can't help but think that I may have read it somewhere although from where I can't remember. But anyways, I've been using it throughout the _Anime Aadventures _thread so I will continue to do so here as well.


	3. Changes

**DC Evangelion**

_**Chapter 3: **__Changes_

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The arrival of Kal-El heralded a great change in the history of the world.

In many, he would go on to become Earth's Greatest Champion. In one however … he did not. In fact his space craft would land not in the Heartland of America but rather in the small island chain of Japan.

And the delay proved fatal.

The craft and its deceased occupant would be found by the Japanese Self Defense Forces who would recruit Professor Kozo Fuyutsuki to head a new organization to study Kal-El's physiology. This organization was the Japanese Scientific Analysis and Advisory Board. The JSA.

Among the various scientists recruited to form the think tank of the JSA included a young but undeniably brilliant scientist Yui Ikari. Due to the intense study and work of unlocking the secrets of Kryptonian DNA, she turned down an offer by the organization known as SEELE to work with the GEHIRN group that would later form the nucleus of NERV.

Without her intellect, GEHIRN would not achieve the scientific breakthroughs it would require to form NERV.

Yui's husband Gendo Rokubungi would however ally himself with SEELE despite, or perhaps because of her connections to the JSA which to Lorenz Keele's frustration, proved relatively impenetrable to his designs and firmly under the control of the JSDF. Gendo however proved able to acquire little in the way of his wife's scientific work due to the stringent security procedures demanded by the JSDF. Security procedures which would have been far more lax under GEHRIN.

The JSA also recruited several scientists to study the technology of the Kryptonian space craft and one of them, Naoko Akagi created the first quantum computer, a thinking artificial intelligence computer system that she dubbed BRAINIAC.

Then came Second Impact.

Most of Antarctica was destroyed. The Katsuragi Expedition was lost save for Misato Katsuragi. Among the casualties was Gendo Ikari leaving Yui a widow. The discovery that an alien life form was responsible for Second Impact spurred the Japanese Self Defense Forces to accelerate the JSA's studies and the United Nations to begin to develop their own defense programs.

The JSA's attempts to clone Kryptonian DNA proved to a failure as some portion of the DNA resisted attempts by cloning techniques. In the end, the JSA developed a hybrid. Yui Ikari used her own DNA to create a clone of herself with a mixture of Kryptonian genetic material creating a young girl whom she named Rei Ayanami.

Yui also gave birth to a son, Shinji Ikari. However the demands of her work forced her to relinquish the task of raising her son to others, she still kept in contact regularly with him through letters and the occasional visit. Although lonely and shy, Shinji was much more outgoing than he would have been.

GEHIRN attempted to use Adam's DNA to create the Evangelion. However without Yui, their work was slow and more than a few doubted their ability to actually manipulate the genetic structure of the alien life form. This lack of confidence proved critical as the United Nations spurred the uncertainty for the proven success of the JSA's work. Thus NERV was never formed.

Under the direction of the United Nations, work began on converting the Geo Front into Fortress 1. Simultaneously, construction began to develop other Fortresses in other countries including Germany and the United States.

The JSA created an artificial android, a massive construct which was the Enhancing Xenological Organism Frame using Kryptonian DNA. The EXO Frame Prototype 00. However the Kryptonian DNA proved elusively resistant to gene manipulation that would enable them to grow it to such enormous sizes, forcing the JSA to increase the amount of terrestrial DNA to almost 90 percent in order to force it to the changes they needed.

What they learned in their experiments in the Prototype enabled them to develop an almost 80 percentage of Kryptonian DNA in EXO Frame Model 01. The EXO Frame 01 never absorbed Yui Ikari ... although it stubbornly resisted attempts to activate it.

Fortress 2 in Germany came on-line and began culturing their own EXO Frame 02.

Several months later Fortress 3 in the Nevada section of the United States was completed and they began EXO Frame 03.

Successive construction began on new Fortresses in Brazil, Egypt, and Australia.

Lorenz Keele and SEELE still existed. However their influence, which would have increased and grown explosively with the formation of NERV did not. They were still a powerful quiet influence and while they could shape and manipulate events, they were not the invasive dominant power they would have been. The JSA along with the United Nations were far much more independent much to the disgust and frustration of SEELE.

Fifteen years after Second Impact, the Angels known only as invading aliens to the rest of humanity returned and ended the fragile peace on the planet …


	4. Sachiel Strikes!

**DC Evangelion**

_**Chapter 4: **__Sachiel Strikes!_

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**2015 A.D.**

Harsh red lighting illuminated the Combat Information Center of the Japanese Strategic Self Defense Force Submarine _Mitsubi._

"Target bearing!" Captain Ichiro Goro barked as he leaned over an enlisted man's shoulder to glare at the strobing computer displays.

"Target is moving at over 55 knots. Same course and heading." Sonarman First Class Hochi reported.

Lt. Commander Shindou studied her computer readouts at the Tactical Station and tapped several control keys. "I'm getting a download from the Recon Drone," she reported.

The miniature oblong-shaped projectile that the _Mitsubi_ had launched over twenty minutes ago had been racing towards the gigantic object that made a blue whale look like a midget. Now it was feeding gigabytes of information collected by its array of sensors and probes via a tight-beam pulsed laser.

"The Target is not repeat _not_ mechanical. It's organic!" Shindou stated with a note of incredulity in her voice.

Captain Goro fired a look at Shindou and mentally divided the tactical officer's competence between the absolute absurdity of the statement and then decided to believe her. Which meant it was probably _was_ what that panicky submarine captain claimed it was before he was destroyed.

An XT.

An extraterrestrial organism. Which was not encouraging news since the last XT mankind had encountered had wiped out half of Earth's population.

Goro gritted his teeth. He had joined the JSSDF to serve his country, to face and confront _**men**_. Not gigantic alien monsters. He remembered watching some old flatscreen movies about this sort of situation when he was a kid. _What was it now? Oh yes. Godzilla._

He thought it was funny then. Some ridiculous looking thing that looked more like a guy in a rubber suit beating the crap out of the Japanese military. Somehow the humor was noticeably lacking now though.

Two submarines had already been destroyed by that thing. Now it was _Mitsubi's_ turn.

Goro knew that the JSSDF didn't really think he could stop this thing. His job was to slow it down.

To buy the JSSDF time to put together a force big enough to do the job. That knowledge that he, his crew, and his beloved submarine were regarded as a mere sacrificial lambs to the slaughter was enough to turn his stomach.

He did have some advantages going for him however. The _Mitsubi_ was one of the very latest, most modern submarines in the JSSDF Navy. The previous two submarines were older, due for retirement in a few more years. In comparison, his ship was not only faster, better armored, but packing some very impressive weaponry as well.

_Of course,_ Goro reminded himself sourly, _none of those very impressive weaponry had ever been actually tested in combat._

Despite his technological advantages, he found himself wishing he had a few of the older but proven weapons. More to the point, none of his crew had ever actually used any of these magnificent state-of-the-art weapons. Outside of a simulation that is. The accountants had collective heart attacks at the mere suggestion of expending live ammunition for war games or target practice and had insisted on dummy shots and computer projections instead.

Goro fantasized for a moment of stuffing one of those damn accountants into a torpedo tube and firing it at Godzilla while waving one of their spreadsheets. He smiled tightly at that whimsical daydream.

_Oh well, time to go to work and earn my magnificent salary,_ he thought regretfully and refocused his attention to the various displays of the CIC. He cleared his throat and glanced at his executive officer Commander Fujimoto. "Are we ready?" he asked tightly.

"All hands at battlestations. The Mass Driver is loaded and primed. Reloads are ready. E-Torpedoes are charged and ready to be loaded. We are running at over 110 percent of full power. Armor is collapsed and ready for rigging," Fujimoto said dourly.

Goro nodded. "Helm!" he barked, "Prepare to drop out of Pursuit Mode and rig for Combat Mode 1!"

* * *

The streamlined shape sped through the water, streaking towards the submerged Sachiel on a direct intercept course.

Then the object began to slow, sections of its streamlined shape began extending themselves, folding themselves out as _Mitsubi_ lost its sleek appearance as armor plating snapped into place.

"Armor is up," Fujimoto reported looking away from his own control screen that he had been watching a wireframe diagram of the _Mitsubi_ finish reconfiguring itself.

The _Mitsubi_ was one of the Japanese Strategic Self Defense Forces latest design. A hybrid of terrestrial and Kryptonian technology. It was a _Tsunami Type B_ Class Submarine and was little more than three years old and was a vast improvement over some of the jury rigged and half understood systems of the _Tsunami Type A_.

The impossibly light and incredibly durable Kryptonian metal alloys had enabled designers to create a submersible that could literally transform its basic structural layout for maximum effect. A hydrodynamically sleek and streamlined shape for speed or to a more blunter and armored carapace for better protection to deflect attacks.

The _Mitsubi_ had an even heavier armored mode, Combat Mode 2 if needed. But Goro knew that his best chance not only for survival but in delaying Sachiel lay in Combat Mode 1 where he had the best balance between protection and maneuverability. Combat Mode 2 would give him slightly better durability but trade too much of his speed as a result.

Goro stared as the sensors finally was able to project a clear picture of the XT. The _Mitsubi_ had been previously been moving far too fast for its sonar to accurate paint a very good picture of the XT. Now that he was slower and nearer, the sonar mapping and low-level laser radars and low-light cameras had enough data for the hypercomputers to project and extrapolate a visual image of the XT.

Somehow he had been expecting … well he wasn't sure what he had been expecting but he had been expecting something a little less silly looking. He shook his head. _Ridiculous or not …_

"Target with Mass Driver," Goro ordered.

Immediately the spinal mounted gravity driver, whose the design was pirated from one of the sublight engines of Kal-El's lifepod began to whine as it powered up. "Target is locked!" one of the rating reported.

"Fire Mass Driver," Goro said calmly.

There was reverberating whine as the gravity driver took the solid projectile, a solid chunk of metal roughly the size of a five year old child and launched it. There was a strange whipcrack of sound reverberating throughout the entire ship as the metal slug became the world's largest and fastest moving shotgun shell.

Goro felt like the entire ship was holding its collective breath as they watched the viewscreens. Not that it mattered. They couldn't see the projectile. It was moving far too fast. What they were tracking were the spiraling shape of the water was literally vaporized by the speed of the object's passage.

They saw XT's reaction first as it jerked to a halt at the sudden attack. Then they felt the dull KRU-THUMP of the enormous impact reverberated throughout the hull.

Fujimoto wasn't looking at the screen, instead he was flashing orders tersely. "Reload Mass Driver!" he snapped. Shindou looked up, "Gravity coils are in cool down cycle, recharging now. Three minutes before we can fire again!"

Goro barely heard them. He saw the XT whip around and focus on them—! "Helm! Evasive! Downward angle dive now!" he heard himself scream.

Faster than he would have believed possible, the enormous XT lashed out. And barely missed.

Goro bared his teeth in a snarl. "Ready E-Torps 1 and 2!"

"Aye! E-Torps 1 and 2 armed and ready!" Shindou called out, her fingers stabbing control buttons.

"Lock on target and fire!" Goro bellowed.

* * *

The _Mitsubi_ shuddered internally once and then twice as compressed air charges ejected the Energy Torpedoes from the torpedo tubes.

Instantly, the hydroelectric turbines in each sent the projectiles hurtling off at high speeds.

Sachiel ignored the miniscule objects. They were insignificant. Insects. More annoying that dangerous.

Energy sparked as the torpedoes each created a magnetic bottle. And more energy started pumping into the magnetic bottle. The energy began to grow, feeding off on itself, growing in size and strength until it was a barely contained crackling sphere of electro-plasma that struck Sachiel's outer skin and ignited.

In the dark and shadowy ocean depths, a miniature nova was born and then ever so slowly, almost reluctantly, faded away.

* * *

"Well?" Goro snapped, peering at the digital display of static.

Hochi mentally cursed as he fiddled with his controls, trying to clear the sonar arrays which were temporarily blinded and confused by the incredible underwater explosion. He especially disliked being crowded by his superior officer who was practically shoving him aside from his own sonar monitors. Unfortunately or perhaps fortunately, the Captain was not telepathic and thus was unaware of his sonarman's mental curses. _Nothing could take a head on collision with an Energy Torpedo and live. That thing, whatever it was, was dead or dying, _Hochi thought with a snort.

Absently Hochi wondered how long it would take the corpse of that size to surface.

"Interference is clearing…" he muttered aloud and then, "I'm getting something—!"

Out of the billowing curtains of bubbling water, Sachiel lunged forward. The impact struck the _Mitsubi_ hard and caused the submarine to flail around as it fought for control. There was no time. Almost casually, Sachiel backhanded the ship.

* * *

The _Mitsubi_ could have survived even if one-third of the submarine's compartments had been ruptured and flooded. It's remarkable and incredibly durable design would have still enabled the submersible to be minimally operable. The strike by Sachiel however had ripped open the entire starboard side of the submarine from bow to stern.

Millions of gallons of seawater rushed into the huge gash. Bulkheads tried to close to seal off the flooding but too much of the compartments had been torn open and they could only delay the inevitable. Not stop it completely.

Sachiel watched calmly as the _Mitsbui_ began to tilt off-axis as compartments flooded and its center of balance was compromised.

The crew of the _Mitsbui_ fought desperately to save their ship.

It was a futile task.

Delicate and fragile electronics shorted out as they were submerged in water. Lights sparked and died.

The _Mitsubi_ began its last dive backwards. Its bow tilted upward as it fell almost vertically towards the ocean floor.

She smashed savagely on the bottom of the ocean floor. It was only a testament to the strength of her design that she even held together. But no longer. The massive weight of the submarine snapped it in two, tearing itself in half midship.

The twin fusion reactor plants finally gave out, their final safety systems failing. There was a powerful and deafening explosion as the _Mitsubi_ died.

There were no survivors. It had happened far too quickly, far too fast for anyone to attempt to escape.

Sachiel waited a moment more, carefully surveying the destruction to ensure that those bothersome insects were well and truly destroyed. Then satisfied, it turned to swim onwards.

Towards Japan.

* * *

**A/N:** One of my reviewers,_ gunman _mentioned that in the _Evangelion_ series, the Japanese Self Defense Force is actually known as the Japanese Strategic Self Defense Force which I had been calling the JSDF by mistake. I have since corrected that error.

For those of you wondering, the JSDF is the actual name for the Japanese organization in the real world. Apparently after 2000 A.D. or Second Impact, the JSDF would reorganize itself as the Japanese Strategic Self Defense Force (JSSDF) as they were no longer a protective or reactive military arm or peacekeepers but rather would have to serve as an offensive army in the chaos and several wars that sprang up after Second Impact. That's pretty much what happened here as well in my reimagined story. Hope that clears things up that when I am referring to the JSDF in previous chapters, it was the pre-Second Impact version and post-Second Impact, they are now the JSSDF.


	5. The New Pilot and an Uneasy SEELE

**DC Evangelion**

_**Chapter 5: **__The New Pilot and an Uneasy SEELE_

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Shinji Ikari fidgeted in his seat as he stared out of the window of the private passenger car of the magnetic levitation train that was taking him to Tokyo-3 … and his mother.

He felt uncomfortable seated in such a luxurious environment. Maybe he should have insisted on sitting in the regular passenger compartments. Of course, his discomfort might have nothing at all to do with the train itself but more with seeing his mother again. Maybe.

He glanced at the spindly and strange looking robot hovering nearby. He/it/the thing/whatever never wavered when it introduced itself to Shinji as the _major domo_ of the First Class Compartment. It had practically hovered around Shinji for the first hour of the trip as it stowed his bags, fetched him a warm moist towel, offered him a choice of chilled or heated beverages which it whipped out of it's stomach/storage compartment on demand, fiddled with the humidity control until its sensors detected the optimum comfort level for Shinji, and showed him the various features of the compartment including the retractable Holo-TV screen which he didn't watch, the computer with the web links to the Tokyo-3 Library System which he could use to download any sort of reading material he might desire and just about every single video game imaginable which he didn't use, and seemed practically disappointed when Shinji insisted on using the toilet in private.

The robot had even offered to use the considerable internal sound projection system to play any number of musical pieces which Shinji declined, preferring to use his own headphones.

He got the feeling that the robot was sulking over his unwilling guest who refused to use any of the hedonistic pleasures of the First Class Compartment. Shinji wondered, _was it was possible to feel guilty over not having a robot massage your feet?_

He sighed as he leaned back into the comfortable and extremely plush chair. He did have to admit that the chair was rather nice. It was one of the latest powered chairs that literally conformed itself to each individual's body shape.

He sighed again and wondered why his mother had abruptly sent for him to come to Tokyo-3. He knew that her job kept her extremely busy. _Much too busy for him,_ he thought sourly. He got the occasional phone call, a card on his birthday, and very rarely she might even visit, but he had gotten used to her absentee raising of him. _Used to it maybe,_ part of him thought darkly, _liking it on the other hand…_

He adjusted his headphones and clicked a button on his disc player to begin the next music track. Well, he would find out when he got there. _After all, it probably wasn't THAT important now was it? It wasn't like he was going to save the world or anything._

Lulled by the gentle rocking of the train, Shinji closed his eyes and fell asleep.

Even had Shinji Ikari been awake, he might not have noticed the dull thumps as various other passenger cars began uncoupling themselves from the train and began taking other diverting tracks.

Nor might he have noticed that the landscape which had been passing by a fairly good clip was now blurring by as the train began accelerating even faster than before as it began redlining its acceleration drive.

The magnetic levitation train bearing the new Pilot Candidate sped onward towards Tokyo-3 and Fortress 1.

* * *

Within a darkened chamber, hidden away from the rest of the world that he had come to despise Lorenz Keele waited. Patience was something that had not been easy for him but immortality if nothing else, had taught him the value of patience.

He could afford to be patient. He could afford to wait. He had time. He always did. After all … time was on _**his**_ side.

His hands tightened into fists and he felt his face twist into a snarl. It _**used**_ to be anyways.

_The alien, _he ground his teeth. _It always came back to that damnable XT!_

He couldn't believe it. All of his centuries of planning, of plotting, of maneuvering, of backstabbing, of manipulating. And all of it, all of it was in jeopardy because of some stupid alien infant.

The United Nations and hence the entire world should be firmly under his thumb by now.

But it wasn't.

He should have the greatest, the most powerful, the most indestructible war machines ever created at his beck and call.

But he didn't.

He should be starting the Human Instrumentality Project. He should be planning Third Impact.

He growled. He was losing it. Everything. Everything that he had worked for centuries for, everything that he had planned for, everything that he had achieved.

Everything had been going smoothly. Everything had been going according to _**his**_ plan. To _**his**_ grand design. Then General Hiro Matsuda. The JSA. Yui Ikari. And the EXO Frames. _And all of it because of some fucking alien XT!_

Hate clawed at him. He resisted the urge to kill with his bare hands but it was so difficult.

Suddenly the lights in the chamber dimmed sharply. He straightened and took a breath and composed himself as light photons sprang upward from holographic imagers. He let his balled up fists to relax and settled himself into his seat with an air of calm indifference. He waited as the photons began weaving themselves into the holographic forms of his subordinates. Of the members of SEELE.

"Yes?" he rumbled impatiently and mentally cursed. He was letting his anxiety show. _You should know better than that! _He mentally reprimanded himself,_ don't let—_

"The Third Angel has appeared," one of his subordinates announced.

Lorenz Keele felt a quiver in his spine. Only centuries of iron control enabled him not to scream and curse. He had gotten quite good at the cursing too. Several centuries and over a dozen languages had enabled him to acquire a considerable vocabulary and repertoire of curses. He listened as they continued.

"We intercepted reports from the Japanese Strategic Self Defense Forces…"

"Has passed through the outer defense perimeter…"

"Fortress 1 is on line with Fortress 2 and 3…"

"The JSSDF is mobilizing…"

"The JSA is implementing the activation of their EXO Frames…"

Lorenz Keele continued to listen impassively. At least on the outside. Inside, he was seething. And more than that, he felt a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. Something he hadn't felt in over a millennia.

He was running out of time.

* * *

**A/N: **Oh yeah, something I forgot to add in the last Author Notes is that _gunman_ also wanted to know why the Japanese Scientific Analysis and Advisory Board was called the JSA and not say JSAAB. That's because I named it the JSA in tribute to the Justice Society of America or as it is referred to in the modern day as the JSA.


	6. The Hard Place

**DC Evangelion**

_**Chapter 6:**_ _The Hard Place_

* * *

He could barely see in front of him. The smoky haze lingered, heavy with the acrid tang of gunpowder. It irritated his nostrils and he fought the urge to violently sneeze. The wind began to pick up, he could feel it cooling the sweat on his bare skin, clearing away the wisps of smoke. But the smell continued to linger, pervading everything with the stench. He cocked his head, hearing the dull thumps and roars of artillery, broken with the high pitched cracks of rifles and the occasional bursts of machine gunfire.

He heard himself breathing harder. Louder. Faster. He could feel his heart thumping crazily, as thought it would burst out of his chest. He closed his eyes and tried to will himself not to breath so much. For his heart not to beat so loud. It was no use. He opened his eyes and glanced over his shoulder at his battalion. He gripped his rifle tighter and wondered as he looked at his men. _Which one of them wouldn't be coming back today? Which one would he be forced to leave behind on the battlefield. And if not today then would it tomorrow? Or the next? It never seemed to end. The war never seemed to end. _

He felt a tremor run up his arm. Cold sweat formed his brow and ran down his face, dripping into his eyes. He blinked rapidly, trying to clear them of the stinging sweat and rubbed his forehead with the back of an arm. His legs felt slow and clumsy. He closed his eyes for a moment and then he felt the earth roiling, a trembling accompanied by the tympanic deafening sound of explosions.

Out there other soldiers were locked in mortal combat. Out there other soldiers were fighting, others soldiers were wounded, perhaps dying or hanging on by a thread. And he and his company was their only chance. The only reinforcements they had.

He felt the tremor in his arm still. His breathing slowed. His heart beat softly. He opened his eyes. The fear was gone. The doubt. He lifted his rifle and bellowed, "LET'S GO EASY COMPANY!"

Suddenly the entire world jerked and lurched and he looked around momentarily disoriented and confused.

* * *

In his sleep fogged mind, it took him a moment to realize that he wasn't in the middle of the Hell that historians called World War II anymore. He was no longer a mere Sergeant anymore. He glanced down at his shoulder bars and still couldn't believe it when he saw the gleaming stars. He felt like a kid playing dress up. _Halloween. _

He straightened in his seat and shook his head. Damn, he hadn't dreamed about World War II in years. At least, not since he had been forced to revisit Hell in the few years following the wake of Second Impact.

It was no coincidence that he had been dreaming about it now either. He felt his nostrils flare. Another XT. He had secretly hoped he would be dead and buried before another one appeared. His damn luck sure hadn't changed too much, he thought darkly as he removed his seatbelt and stood up even as the aircraft taxied to a halt.

He strode down the passageway and saw the Air Force pukes cracking open the hatch and the stairs unfolding themselves. The glint in his eye challenged any of them to dare and comment that he should still be in his damn seat like a good little passenger.

None did.

He stuck his head out and squinted at the sprawling cityscape of New Washington nestled in Colorado.

* * *

It still felt strange to think of this place as the new seat of government for the United States of America. But after Second Impact, the original Washington D.C. was now underwater and the surviving government had relocated the central hub of government.

He quickly located the White Tower, a gigantic superscraper that was the combination home and office of the President. Not that it was difficult. The White Tower as it's name implied, was a glittering needle of what appeared to be white stone but actually reinforced permacrete, a much more durable form of concrete and for further toughness, was sheathed in over a foot thick slab of transparent armorplast making it capable of shrugging off heavy artillery fire. Standing slightly over 2,000 feet, it was the tallest structure in New Washington as well as the tallest one permitted.

New Washington had been planned from the ground up and unlike other cities, was a model of geometric angles and precision. The White Tower was directly centered in the middle of the entire city which radiated outward from it in as series of concentric rings.

The rest of the city consisted of buildings of three to five stories and domes. The only towers of any height were the Defense Towers. Standing over approximately 1,200 feet, these Towers were only slightly shorter than the old Empire State Building and bristled with heavy multi-barreled chain guns, heavy laser cannons, and entire stories of missile launchers.

Rock took a moment to appreciate the careful and fiendish preparation that the military strategists had taken to site the various Defense Towers in the concentric inner and outer rings of New Washington. _Nasty,_ he decided how they ensured that every single one had interlocking fields of fire. He certainly wouldn't want to try and take this place.

At the bottom of the staircase, he shaded his eyes and peered towards White Tower and saw a trio of helicopters approaching the airport. Even as he watched, two of the helicopters broke off, circling the field with their heavy chain guns tracking as the third and much larger helicopter landed. A group of men and two women dressed in matching black suits and ties leaped out of the passenger compartment, forming a protective wall of human bodies around the youngish looking brown haired man dressed in a gray sports coat with a red tie who exited the copter somewhat clumsily.

Rock found himself glaring at the jeans and white sneakers the man was wearing. He inwardly sighed. Throughout his long career, he had encountered quite a few politicians and other movers and shakers. Some were better or worse, a few competent or at least projected competence. This … _**guy**_ (he refused to actually call him Mister President) had never really inspired Rock's confidence.

"Mister Chairman," the much younger man said with a nod of greeting.

"Sir," Rock said, giving a minimal inclination of his head.

The President of the United States loosened his tie and irritably asked, "Would you mind telling me just what the Hell is going on here? I was sitting in the Oval Office when the Secret Service comes charging in, hauls me up from behind my desk and throws me into the helicopter. And they all refuse to say anything." he complained. Rock privately thought he sounded like a whining kid.

But he would do his job, Rock reminded himself. He swore an oath all those years ago and he had always kept it. _**Always.**_ "It's currently classified," he said in a neutral tone of voice.

The President stepped closer and with gritted teeth said, "General, you are the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. And I am the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the United States of America. Which if memory serves, makes me your BOSS. You work for me. So what—"

Rock held up a miniature computer, "I need to perform an ID scan, sir. Please hold still for a moment."

The President grimaced but allowed Rock to take his right hand and press it against the screen which lit up and scanned his handprint. Rock released the man's hand and continued to hold the mini-computer which flashed and commenced a new series of identification verifications. Retinal scans, bio-metrics, and a host of other scans were executed.

The computer thought about them, whirring faintly as it processed the data.

**/ IDENTITY VERIFIED \**

**/ LUCAS CARR \**

**/ PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA \**

**/ COMMANDER IN CHIEF OF ARMED FORCES \**

Lucas "Snapper" Carr, President of the United States of America and Leader of the Free World raised an eyebrow. "Satisfied?" he inquired sarcastically.

Rock tucked the computer away in a pocket, "Yes sir. I apologize sir, but we are currently operating under _CODE BLACK."_

Carr blinked. _"CODE BLACK?"_ he repeated.

Patiently, as if explaining to someone too dumb to grasp big words, Rock explained slowly, "Yes sir, no classified information of any kind will be transmitted under any medium or frequency except direct personal face to face, physical contact upon stringent identification procedures and protocols to prevent the possibility of interception."

Carr made a sour face, "I know what _CODE BLACK_ is, General. But I thought that _CODE BLACK_ was only used—"

"In times of war." Rock finished, "Correct, sir. We are currently at DEF CON Level One," and smirked inwardly as he saw the little snot pale a bit. He continued in a calm tone of voice, "Approximately a half an hour ago, Fortress Command received an emergency communiqué from Fortress-1. CODE IMPERIOUS. DAMOCLES ALERT."

Damocles Alert was an emergency global alert code adopted by all nations. It was never used in even the most realistic of drills or simulations. For it had only one meaning and one meaning only.

It referred to the legendary Greek fable of Damocles, a ambitious courtier who tried to flatter a King in proclaiming how fortunate he was being a man of great power. To which the King offered to exchange places with Damocles for a day. Damocles immediately accepted and greatly enjoyed being waited on hand and foot. Until he happened to glance upward and suddenly noticed a large sword suspended above his head by a single thread that the King had ordered placed there.

Like the proverbial Sword of Damocles, the Alert referred to a large, oppressive threat hanging over the heads of humanity. It meant Extraterrestrial Incursion. An XT.

Snapper Carr quite eloquently summed up the entire situation. "Oh … shit."

_Actually,_ Rock thought with bitter amusement, _that was actually a rather optimistic view of the entire situation._

_

* * *

_

**A/N: **General Rock was formerly SGT. Rock of Easy Company, one of the more popular WWII comic books. He and his unit were a group of regular soldiers fighting the Nazis and has since reappeared in the modern DC Universe as a General during the "Worlds at War" storyline in 2001 although it was hinted that this Rock was in fact, an imposter and the actual Sgt. Rock had died in the final days of WWII although it is difficult to say as he has made several cameos in various comics past that era that seem to conflict with that.

He was the quintessential grunt, a "regular dog faced soldier" as he proclaimed himself to be. I vaguely remember reading one story featuring him simply because it was included in a DC Collection of Best Stories digest when I was a kid. I had almost completely forgotten him until DC brought him back for the "Worlds at War" saga as an Army General; basically a fairly logical progression I thought.

I set up the whole dream sequence at the very beginning just to see if anyone would catch the reference and guess who it was. The title was a bit of a clue too from the whole "between a rock and a hard place" phrase.

Easy Company itself is a generic name for Army regiments during WWII, typically they divided up the various units into Able, Baker, Charlie, Delta, and Easy. Today, they are referred to as Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, and Echo.

Snapper Carr on the other hand was the original sidekick to the Justice League of America, way back when they actually had sidekicks. He went on to become an interstellar superhero after gaining superpowers, later lost them, went on to become a supporting cast member of the future android Hourman, and most recently was the mentor to Young Justice after their previous advisor, Red Tornado took a leave of absence. I don't think he's appeared in any titles recently but he did manage to show up in the Justice League Animated Series as a TV news reporter. I felt I just had to include him in somewhere and decided to make him President of the US.


	7. Preparations for War

**DC Evangelion**

_**Chapter 7:**__ Preparations for War_

_

* * *

_

**Tokyo-3  
Fortress 1  
Monitor Womb**

"Launch all depth charges!" one of the Generals yelled watching the five story high holographic video screen as the dozens of old style helicopters began dropping successive waves of metal canisters into the choppy water.

General Hiro Matsuda watched and internally grimaced. The JSSDF were scrapping together anything and everything they had to throw at the XT. Those helicopters were from the mid 20th Century and had been heavily retrofitted. But they were well past the age of usefulness and were edging into senility. Retrofitting could only help so much. Those copters were at least two, perhaps as much as three generations out of date. _Hell, some of them might even be older than I am,_ Matsuda thought darkly.

While it might make _**some**_ tactical sense, he rather thought they were throwing away irreplaceable trained men and women in outdated machines that should have been scrapped long ago.

There was a rumble and foamy geysers of waters erupted from the sea as the depth charges detonated.

The same General who had ordered the dropping of the depth charges was now ordering one of the helicopters to move in closer to try and get a better view and determine the effectiveness of the attack.

Matsuda felt his hands twitching and a tic began jumping at the corner of his mouth. _Pull them back dammit. Pull them back!_ he mentally screamed.

The sea boiled as something huge parted them and Sachiel surfaced.

They heard a scream of horror from the audio channel from one of the helicopter's crew, perhaps the pilot or co-pilot as they got a close up look at the XT. _Closer than even the General wanted probably,_ Matsuda thought mirthlessly.

The screen dissolved into static. _Shit._ Matsuda closed his eyes for a second.

The General made a muffled curse and slammed a fist on his armrest as the holographic screen blanked before switching to another, more distant view point.

The helicopters were scattering now, struggling to run away.

A few didn't.

The abrupt surfacing of the the enormous XT either caught a few by surprise or their engines simply weren't up to the task of getting them out of the way quickly enough. The XT didn't even seem to notice the four helicopters that it brushed aside. They saw one of the helicopter swinging around wildly, smoke pouring out from its tail rotor. It appeared as if several of the main blades of the helicopter were gone, ripped off. It crashed and shredded itself into scrap metal before exploding into a ball of fire.

Matsuda said nothing but continued to watch as now a convoy of mobile missile launchers unleashed a barrage of rockets. Explosions dotted up and down the frame of the gigantic XT who ignored them as it waded forward through the surf and onto dry land. It raised an arm and some sort of energy beam erupted from its hand to destroy one of the fleeing helicopters as a man might casually swat a pesky fly.

There was a sound of exultation from one of the other Generals sitting at the Command Deck. He immediately placed his handset down and looked at the other two, "ETA is 15 minutes for the aerodynes!" he said proudly. The other two Generals began smiling and nodding as well.

Matsuda did not bother to respond. He didn't think the new aircrafts would make that much of a difference anyways. But it would be interesting to see how much the new technology performed.

"It is not going very well is it," a deep rumbling voice sounded behind him.

Matsuda glanced over his shoulder to see that his two military subordinates had appeared to watch the action. General Yuri Ivanov was a big, stocky, bulky barrel chested man who towered over just about everyone else. A Russian by birth, he had joined the Army as a common soldier and worked his way up the hard way, winning his officer's commission and later his generalship through his fierce bulldogged tenacity and bloody single minded stubbornness.

He earned his frightening nickname from his high school days when he led his ice hockey team to the State Championships twice in a row. It was coined by the players on the opposite side of the rink. They fearfully dubbed the savage and brutal forward as Ivan. _Ivan the Terrible. _

Matsuda suspected that Ivanov secretly enjoyed and played up his coarse and savage reputation. He was well known for his loud and blistering oratory. More than one hapless officer who found himself or herself at the end of one of his tirades discovered a few more speed gears that they didn't even know they possessed by sheer inspiration. Or perhaps desperation.

Ivanov reminded Matsuda of a bulldozer more than anything else. Big and ponderous and just about unstoppable.

Of course, if someone were designing Ivanov's antithesis, he probably would have come up with Air Marshal Luo Zhang. He was a good foot shorter than Ivanov and whereas Ivanov was built like a brick wall, Zhang was slender and rapier thin like a gymnast.

Of course it wasn't just their physical differences that set the two men apart but rather the fact that Ivanov's approach to combat was simplistic and straightforward. Wade in and keep on hammering his opponent until he can't take anymore. Zhang on the other hand was a wily, sly, cunning, and devious strategist who preferred the subtle sucker punch when his opponent was least expecting it.

Zhang was rather quiet and mild sort of person who apparently didn't go for the bombastic and strident shouting of Ivanov. He never raised his voice but he was capable of flaying the skin of any person, officer or noncom with only the frosty tone of his voice and the icy glare in his eyes.

Their appointment to the JSA was a political gesture by the United Nations. Each Fortress had a designated regional area that they would be responsible for. Fortress 1 which covered Asia thus included Japan, China, and Russia thus they drew various military and support personnel from those specific regions.

Matsuda had at first been dubious at the idea but he had long since become accustomed to their presence and even found that their professionalism, their insight, and individual talents were a tremendous asset. And playing them off against each other only helped. Ivanov was too much of a fighter and Zhang was too much of a thinker. Thus Ivanov had to reign in his aggressiveness and Zhang wouldn't paralyze himself into indecision by overanalysis.

It still felt a bit odd though sometimes working alongside a Russian and a Chinese. Russia, China, and Japan had all warred against each other at one time or another. Desperation and the urgent need to survive enabled old bitter enemies to unite in face of a mutual enemy. They were no longer Russians, Chinese, or Japanese anymore. Those old concepts of nationalities and rival states had pretty much ended in the fiery cauldron of Second Impact. They were now simply human beings united against a common foe fighting to survive.

Actually, most of the youngsters seemed not to notice such trivialities anymore. It was Matsuda and his older generation that still seemed to find it a bit awkward and a bit out of step.

Matsuda wondered if they did manage to survive and triumph would their alliance break apart? Would they go back to isolated nations and bitter rivalry?

The world was such a strange place these days. _And getting stranger,_ Matsuda reflected. He shook his head. Enough wool gathering. "Yes, I'm afraid so. They aren't doing so well."

Zhang merely gave a small nod of agreement and then, "Both the Chinese and Russian Armed Forces are mobilizing. They are alerted and are redeploying to assist the JSSDF," he reported calmly.

Matsuda snorted. "I doubt they can get here in time."

Zhang shrugged and continued, "The Third is en route now. We've shunted the car to an express track and increased the speed past the safety margins but it's still going to take it at least another fifty minutes to get to the station. And it's going to be an hour and thirty minute drive here to CIC."

"Damn. Why the Hell didn't we fly the kid in?" Ivanov demanded with a low growl.

"It wasn't a priority at the time. Internal Security thought it was better to be 'low profile'." Zhang said dryly.

Hindsight was such a wonderful thing. Matsuda cursed as he pinched the bridge of his nose and tried to remind himself that InSec was on HIS side. Or so they claimed.

"What about an aerodyne? It could make the trip here in about fifteen minutes—" Ivanov suggested.

"None of them are available." Zhang interrupted coolly.

Ivanov growled, "If that kid gets his ass killed then we don't have a pilot and that fancy genetically engineered super-weapon," he jerked his thumb in the general direction of the EXO Frame Hanger, "is as worthless as a tank out of petrol. The engine will turn over, the gun will fire, but it ain't going nowhere. It will just sit there looking all shiny and pretty and damn useless."

"We shall simply have to rely on the JSSDF to delay the XT long enough for us to pick the Third Child up and bring him to Fortress 1," Zhang stated calmly.

Ivanov sneered, conveying his opinion of the ability of the JSSDF to do just that.

Zhang was expressionless but Matsuda got the feeling that he silently agreed with his counterpart.

"Fortress Status?" Matsuda asked to divert attention.

Ivanov grunted, "All defensive systems are fully on-line, the offensive systems are 90 percent operational," he reported. "They are still having problems with the automated missile reloading system in Battery 5. However the engineers tell me that the problem will be fixed and they will be fully on-line within the hour," he reported grimly. Both Zhang and Matsuda heard the unspoken _Or Else_. Ivan the Terrrible was not the most forgiving or understanding of individuals. He did not _expect_ results. He _**demanded**_ them. The engineers had better be finished in an hour.

"The Fortress is presently sealed. All access points are blockaded. All nonessential personnel are currently evacuating into the emergency shelters. I have several MP patrols searching for stragglers or people who think it's another stupid drill and are staying put. We're doing headcounts at all of the shelters so we'll know if they're any people left behind and who they are so we can look for them," Ivanov concluded.

Zhang reached into his pocket and pulled out a small computer pad and examined it. He looked up, "Fortress 2 and 3 are on-line with us. The other Fortresses are currently uplinking now," he reported. "The other senior staff is waiting for us in the Communications Chamber."

Matsuda nodded and then cleared his throat, "Sirs, something has come up that requires my attention," he said respectfully to the triumvirate of JSSDF Generals, all of whom outranked him sitting in the Command Deck of the Monitor Womb and busy discussing some new mobilizations.

The most senior of them nodded courteously, "Very well General. You are excused." and casually saluted Matsuda before returning his attention to the holographic image of the XT now trodding over several tanks. He scowled before reentering the intense conversation and began arguing some new deployment and how to reorganize it.

Matsuda returned the salute and then glanced right and left to his mismatched pair of bookends, "Let's go," he told Ivanov and Zhang with a jerk of his head.

* * *

**A/N: **In case some of you are wondering Matsuda, Ivanov, and Zhang are not part of the original _Evangelion_ universe nor do they belong to DC. They are my own original characters.


	8. Opening Maneuvers

**DC Evangelion**

**Chapter 8: **_Opening Maneuvers_

* * *

Shinji Ikari was _not_ a happy teenager.

He had been practically ordered to come to Tokyo-3 by his absentee mother and hence his rather boring but peaceful routine had been totally disrupted by this sudden uprooting.

Furthermore, he had been forced to take a series of transfers onto several different magnetic levitation trains that had not by any stretch of the imagination been simple or straightforward.

In fact if he didn't know better, he would have sworn that the itinerary that the travel agency had forwarded to him had been deliberately arranged so that he had been going around in circles (which he actually _was_ thanks to the paranoia of Internal "We're On Your Side!" Security).

So it was not totally unexpected that he was a _trifle_ bit upset. But he sure as heck hadn't been expecting this.

"Where's the rest of the TRAIN?" he demanded, his nose pressed against the transparent plastic window set into the rear door of the plush passenger compartment as he frantically tried to spot the rest of the train cars.

He wasn't having much luck.

"The other cars have been diverted to alternate tracks, Passenger Ikari," a smoothly mellow voice informed him.

Shinji glanced over his shoulder to glare at the floating servitor robot, "Why?" he demanded.

"Because of the state of emergency," the robot informed him calmly.

Shinji bit back a sigh of exasperation. Screaming at the stupid tin can wasn't going to do the least bit of good. The servitors were smart enough to do their jobs but anything that required a bit more intelligence was just beyond them and they were incredibly and mindlessly literal.

"What state of emergency?" Shinji asked in a calm tone of voice.

"The JSSDF declared a state of emergency 1.21 hours ago for the entire central Kanto Region of Japan. They immediately executed an override over the magnetic levitation train's destination with the exception of the special passenger car," the robot informed him.

"What's this big emergency?" Shinji asked confused and somewhat concerned.

The robot paused and then, "That information is not in my databanks. I am currently querying the main computer, please wait," the droid said, holding up one hand up. The optic sensors of the robot flashed as it initiated a hook up to the central mainframe that ran everything on the mag-lev trains throughout Japan.

* * *

The double doors whooshed open as Matsuda strode into the Communications Chamber, Ivanov and Zhang trailing behind him.

Science Department Head Kozo Fuyutsuki looked up at their arrival and nodded a greeting as the trio entered the room. At his side stood Yui Ikari, Bio-Genetics/Bio-Mechanics and Ritsuko Akagi, Technical Sciences. Together, the six of them consisted of the Command Team of Fortress 1.

Arrayed before them were six separate holographic screens floating in midair, each showing the face of a different Fortress Commander around the world with additional text information inset beneath them. It was an eclectic mix of scientists and military personnel. The scientists all nodded courteously while the soldiers all saluted.

"Status report," Matsuda commanded.

GERMANY. Jay Garrick straightened slightly. His brown hair was graying at the temples but the former scientist's mind remained as quick as it ever was. "Fortress 2 is fully on-line," he said. He looked calm and serene. "EXO Frame 2 is currently at 100 percent and the Pilot is doing rather well in the simulations. No major problems," he reported.

Matsuda nodded. _Fortress 2 was probably the least of his worries though. The others however..._

UNITED STATES. Colonel Alan Scott shrugged in his drab olive green Army uniform. "Fortress 3 is fully operational. EXO Frame 3 is on standby," and then he hesitated, a bit of worry appearing on his face. "and ... well, you know about our problem with our Pilot Candidate," he finished with a grimace.

"I thought you said there was a potential replacement," Matsuda asked with a faint scowl.

"I did. The replacement however..." Scott looked frustrated and a bit disgusted, "I'm not sure about his suitability."

"We're running out of time."

Scott looked pained. "I know."

Matsuda studied him for a moment and then gave a curt nod, "Very well."

He could order Scott to recruit the Pilot Candidate but it wouldn't be right. Scott was the man on the scene. He knew what the problem facing them and Scott was right too. They couldn't place an unsuitable person to control the most powerful super weapon the world had ever known. So Matsuda would have to trust him to do what was best. That was what delegation was all about.

He looked at his other problem children.

BRAZIL. Air Force Commander Diana Lance looked calmly from her holographic screen. "Fortress 4 is operational. Our efficiency levels aren't quite as high as I would like but most of the staff has only be working with the systems for two months. I'm sure they'll improve. EXO Frame 4 is approximately 75 percent complete. They currently estimate that it will be another 3 months before it is finished. Our Pilot Candidate is working up on the simulators. I think she might eventually give Langley some competition," she finished with a sly smirk at Garrick who merely spread his hands with a smile.

"She's welcome to try," Garrick said.

Diana brushed back a lock of her short dark hair. "Her scores are still in the 50 percentiles but she's steadily improving on a daily basis."

Matsuda nodded. That was better than he hoped.

EGYPT. Matsuda studied the bleary eyes and deep grooves and lines of the face of Carter Hall with some shock. He had not spoken face to face with the Egyptian Fortress Commander for some time but still, the fresh lines engraved on the man's face was not from age but exhaustion and worry. His entire body seemed to sagging with fatigue and the expression on his face looked harried. Which was another shock because Hall was … or rather _used_ to be the very model of poise and composure. This was a man who was pushed to his very limits and was being forced to drag himself forward through sheer will alone.

In a hoarse and weary voice, Hall gave his verbal report. "The inner Fortress is finished but the outer works is still 40 percent unfinished. And the outer defenses are even worse. We're running in a lot of problems over here. Mostly sabotage, terrorism, and Hell, just plain obstructism by the different governments. My people are working double, sometimes triple shifts and we're still nearly two years behind schedule," he finished with a grimace.

Matsuda bit back a curse but he knew that Hall had been practically killing himself struggling to maintain the back breaking schedule. It wasn't helped that Fortress 5 was being built in a region of the world that was not exactly known for it's stability.

Hampered by several dozen languages, four different alphabets, almost as many different religions, and all of them blatantly hostile to one another. Not to mention all the fanatics and terrorism cells that had sprung up in the wake of Second Impact had plagued the construction of the project for the past several years, delaying the completion of Fortress 5.

The most notable one, the terrorism group Black Mecca had set a series of bombs that caused a tremendous landslide that destroyed eight months of excavation and killed over fifty men and women.

He looked sympathetic, "I see."

Hall wearily grimaced, "I hate making excuses and letting you down Hiro ... but Fortress 5 is not ready. I doubt it will be ready within another year," he said shoving his hand up through his blonde hair which were stranded with more white than Matsuda remembered just six months ago.

"And EXO Frame 5?" Matsuda asked a bit gently.

Hall bit his lip and shook his head. "Barely 15 percent completed." he said with a wince. "It seemed far too risky to start the really critical work without more of our security screen in place."

Garrick looked concerned. "I had no idea it was that bad," he remarked.

Every other single person in the room or watching via hologram shared his expression and concern.

Ivanov added in, "It also leaves a rather big gap in our defensive coverage," he added in his gravely voice.

Matsuda knew he was right. Fortress 5 was their weak link at the moment. The other Fortresses had the outer defensive works in place at least. Matsuda made a face, "Well we can't do anything about it right now," he said and then glanced at the final screen trying not to look like he was bracing himself for the news.

AUSTRALIA. Terry Sloane smiled back. "We're about finished with the final construction on Fortress 6. We probably need at least another month to complete and figure another two weeks or so to chase all of the bugs out. EXO Frame 6 is 55 percent complete. No significant problems detected so far," he said confidently.

Matsuda nodded grateful that everything at Fortress 6 was going smoothly. The last Fortress to be established, Sloane had stepped in to assume command from Wesley Dodds after his unforeseen heart attack. It was a tremendous blow since Dodds had been an important member of the JSA since practically its very inception but Wes admitted that he simply wasn't up to the demanding burdens any longer. Fortunately the JSA' Chief Medical Doctor Charles McNider reported that Dodds was recuperating and already making a nuisance of himself.

Matsuda made a mental note to float the idea to Dodds of staying on in an advisory position to the JSA.

Upon replacing Dodds, Sloane had proven himself to be a terrific asset, literally shaving off weeks in the work schedules. Which was even more important considering the shape that Fortress 5 was in.

Matsuda folded his hands behind his back, "My thanks to each and everyone of you. You all have done a magnificent job," he addressed the various holograms. "I am hereby implementing a first stage alert. Upgrade your status to Level Orange. I want you all to remain tied in real-time while we—"

There was a buzzing chime that cut him off. Matsuda looked up irritated at the interruption as a new holographic screen flashed into existence. It was a black screen with three rotating circles arranged in an upside down triangular pattern. Each of the circles pulsated in synch. "Excuse me for interrupting," a deep resonant masculine voice sounded throughout the room.

Matsuda nodded, "Yes, BRAINIAC?" he inquired.

Matsuda could never rid himself of the disbelief that he wasn't interacting with a real person whenever he spoke to the sophisticated computerized artificial intelligence. Matsuda suspected that was what Naoko Akagi had in mind when she created the booming, deeply authoritative voice for her quantum computer. It just sounded too human. In fact, Matsuda mused not for the first time that BRAINIAC sounded an awful lot like a 20th Century African-American actor known as James Earl Jones.

"The aerodyne attack upon the XT is about to commence General Matsuda," the AI informed him then after moment, "I thought you would like to know." BRAINIAC said.

* * *

Major Hikaru Goro resisted the urge to sigh and tap his fingers impatiently. This was not the task he relished. He had joined the JSSDF Tactical Aircraft Wing in order to fly fighter jets, to thunder across the skies at supersonic speeds.

_Not plod along in something that looked like a badly designed brick with a pair of stubby rounded wings stuck on as an afterthought,_ Goro thought with a bit of a headshake. Maybe it was just simply vanity or something but he wanted his aircraft to look sleek and menacing.

Not for the first time, he wished he had blown a few percentages off his test scores so to have evaded the 'honor' of being assigned one of the newest, most advanced technological aircraft in his country's military forces. _Lucky me,_ Goro thought sourly.

The _Kamikaze_-Class Aerodyne was perhaps one of the most sophisticated and also the most powerful aircraft in the world. It was a cross between a helicopter and jet and some might consider it the modern day descendant of the vaunted United States' tilt-rotor aircraft known as the Osprey.

The large oversized ducted wing rotors enabled it to slow, hover, and maneuver like a helicopter while the jet turbines gave it the ability to execute high-speed sprints. It was in comparison, about as slow as a World War II jet fighter and considered a slug by modern high-tech standards. However speed was not a premium here and the _Kamikazes_ had never been designed to fight at lightning speeds.

The aerodynes had been designed to combat gigantic XTs. And while it was slower than a modern jet, it more than made up for it in sheer maneuverability and no jet ever carried such powerful armaments.

In a sense, it was a total revision of design philosophy. For the later half of the 20th Century, the greatest asset of jet fighters was speed. Now, he was flying what was essentially a gigantic tank/ammunition storage depot.

On the other hand, being assigned to the _Kamikazes_ meant that he would be one of those to fight the XT. It took all of his self discipline and control to prevent himself from snarling at that pleasant thought. He had gotten the report just a few moments before the squadron had been ordered to take off. The _Mitsubi_. Lost with all hands.

Including Captain Ichiro Goro. His only uncle. He felt the swift stab of pain. He clenched his teeth and forced himself to remain calm and focused.

_Anger erodes judgment,_ he heard his flight instructor lecture him when he was a flight cadet, _and the one thing that a fighter pilot needs above all else is good judgment,_ his instructor's voice concluded sharply with a glare at Goro who felt his heart start to beat slower and he took a deep cleansing breath. _And it's even more essential when you happen to be the squadron leader,_ Goro reflected.

He tapped the communication panel, opening the squadron channel. "Listen up, we're coming up on the XT. Prep all weapons. Tac officers, get ready. Pilots, look sharp. Don't get killed out there, you know how much paperwork I'll have to fill out if you do. And you all know how much I hate _**paperwork**_."

Goro heard a few chuckles and brief snorts of laughter and smiled. Then his smile faded as he saw the gigantic figure striding towards them.

"OK. Break off into pairs and accelerate to attack speed!" he barked, "Let's go Blackhawks!" he screamed and shoved hard on the throttle.

He felt the entire aircraft frame shudder as it leapt forward, the roar of the turbines increasing to a shrill shriek as he rushed towards Sachiel. Around him, the 101st Aerodyne Tactical Fighter Squadron, the Blackhawks followed.

* * *

**A/N: **For those of you who were wondering, all of the other Fortress Commanders happen to be members of the "real" JSA or the Justice Society of America. Or at least, their real identities.

Jay Garrick is the original Flash. Alan Scott happens to be the first Green Lantern although he is referred to as Sentinel these days, apparently to distinguish himself from the modern day Green Lantern Hal Jordan, Guy Gardner, Kyle Rayner, and John Stewart. Dinah Lance is better known as Black Canary and Carter Hall is Hawkman. Terry Sloane was the first Mr. Terrific, Wesley Dodds was the Sandman, and Charles McNider was the original Dr. Mid-nite. The last three are currently deceased and have their identities inherited by their individual successors.

Hikaru Goro is my own original character although his Aerodyne Squadron, the Blackhawks were named in tribute to the original Blackhawks who were a group of international fliers who lost their homelands to the Nazis during WWII and they banded together as a small elite and independent strike force.

Apparently a version of them still continues to exist to this day in the DC Universe. I think there is a civilian run organization called "Blackhawk Express" which acts as a some sort of mail courier service while a more militaristic version also actively uses the name of the Blackhawks as a sort of covert group of elite pilots performing black ops missions.

Originally, I hadn't intended to name the Aerodyne Squadron as the Blackhawks but I had a moment of last minute inspiration and I thought it added a bit more of the DC Universe to my story. I switched out the original name of the Kamikazes and instead used it as the class name of the Aerodynes instead.


	9. Aerial Assault!

**DC Evangelion**

**Chapter 9: **_Aerial Assault!_

* * *

Major Hikaru Goro glanced over his shoulder to his backseat tactical officer who was examining her various tactical readouts. "Approaching optimum missile range to target. Ready Sora?" he asked.

Lieutenant Sora Kurosawa grinned back, "Hey, I'm always ready to blow stuff up Boss," she said giving him a thumbs up and flashing a toothy grin.

"Right." Goro turned back to face forward and flipped a toggle. "Activating VR HUDS," he said softly as around him, the virtual reality heads-up displays activated, showing real-time images from several hundreds of micro-TV cameras built into the exterior of the aerodyne. It created a blurry double-image for a moment. Goro took one last look of the outside world, trying to commit it to memory before he reached out and flipped a second toggle.

"Closing canopy," he said.

Immediately armored panels slid out, cutting off the view of the outside world, hence the need for the VR HUDS.

"Canopy sealed." Goro reported, suppressed a flinch as the armored panels locked closed with a dull thump. They were supposed to be a safety measure and it made sense, he supposed. But he couldn't help but feel that a pilot should rely on his regular eyesight when he was flying, not some incredibly fancy sophisticated and realistic holographic simulation.

Goro tightened his grip around his control yoke and listened as Kurosawa opened her dedicated com channel. "Attention Tac Officers! Prepare to receive preprogrammed targeting data!" she said crisply and began tapping keys.

Armored bays opened and small boxy missile launchers extended. He heard Sora mutter, "At least it's a damn big target," she remarked before she raised her voice, "FIRE!" she shouted.

* * *

General Hiro Matsuda silently watched the holographic projection screen as dozens of rockets were launched from the circling aerodynes in a cloud of smoke.

They streaked towards the lumbering XT and detonated in mid-flight, the shaped charge released a rapidly expanding funnel shaped cloud of plastic filaments. The small thermoplastic filaments immediately reacted to the extreme heat of the explosion. As they were designed to do, they drew in the ambient temperature and expanded, growing in size and shape, forming a wedge shaped form with razor sharp monomolecular edges.

The triangular shredder darts continued their flight to smash headlong into the gigantic form of Sachiel. The darts sliced and cut and shredded everything in its path, barely slowed down by the obstacle of Sachiel's body, much like a thresher would mow down a field of wheat.

Sachiel didn't even notice as he continue to take one single gigantic step at a time. Moments later his body repaired itself, Matsuda could literally see the flesh reknitting itself and within the span of a single stride, Sachiel was fully restored.

_Maybe it did notice them,_ Matsuda thought bleakly, _maybe it just DIDN'T care because they couldn't really harm it._

The Blackhawks launched a second wave of rockets. Different ones this time. They came streaking in and exploded in a bright flash of napalm and white phosphorous causing the gigantic XT to go up in flames!

Any NORMAL thing would be writhing around in agony. Any NORMAL thing would quite probably be dead. This wasn't anything normal however... Hiro closed his eyes and shook his head before opening them again to see the XT still moving forward as parts of it continued to burn here and there.

It was a monster.

Hiro felt a wave of dread in him as he watched the expressionless mask-like face of the XT continue striding forward, not even bothering to acknowledge their presence.

"Why does the JSSDF even bother? Surely they must realize their weapons just aren't effective..."

The speaker had pitched her words low and soft, clearly trying to not call attention to herself but Hiro heard them anyways. He stiffened, feeling the urge to snap at her but instead, he heard someone else retort for him.

"It is simply human nature," Yui Ikari said in a clear ringing voice. She gazed at Ritsuko Akagi with a benign smile. "We will fight, even if it seems hopeless, even meaningless. Because it is not in our nature to ever give up or to ever stop trying. We will struggle against the darkness, against all odds, despite despair and hopelessness and fear." She fell silent for a moment and then in a quiet voice that was heard throughout the entire chamber, "And that is why we WILL win." she said firmly.

Hiro Matsuda hoped she was right. He really did.

* * *

"This XT is really starting to piss me off," Sora growled.

Goro felt a grin on his face. "Giving up?" he inquired lightly.

"Hell, no!" Sora snapped as she began tapping computer keys again. "Arm deep penetrators." she ordered tersely.

Goro raised an eyebrow at that but kept silent. Technically speaking he was the pilot of the aerodyne and responsible for it's maneuvering. The actual assault however was the responsibility of the backseater, the tactical officer. The deep penetrators were experimental and of a last ditch response only. _On the other hand,_ he mused, _nothing else seemed to be working either._ He drummed his fingers anxiously, feeling helpless and more a little like a damn chauffeur than a fighter pilot and watched his instrument plot.

He heard racks of missiles being unloaded from the launchers and within the missile magazines, he imagined new ones were being hurriedly deployed into the launchers. "FIRE!" Sora barked.

* * *

Once more smoke bloomed from the aerodynes and a series of missiles erupted from their midst to hurdle headlong at Sachiel.

Instead of exploding however, the missiles plunged into the creature's body and was swallowed up.

Sachiel continued his unhurried pace.

One step.

Then another.

Then suddenly it faltered.

* * *

"Shake THIS off you freaking alien BASTARD!" Sora Kurosawa muttered as she turned away from a holo screen of a timer counting down to glare at the image of the XT. It flailed momentarily as bulging blisters began forming all over its body and they erupted in a storm of bloody fluid and the creature collapsed.

She broke into a wide grin, "YES!" she cried out triumphantly.

* * *

"Interesting. Were those the deep penetrators?" Fuyusuki asked curiously.

Zhang nodded proudly. "Yes. Surgically sharpened projectiles that were designed to burrow deep into the body where a timed charge would detonate. Incidentally inflicting massive body damage to the XT."

Matsuda continued to watch dispassionately.

They all watched the screen as the creature rose to its feet once more looking unhurt and unfazed.

There was a collective gasp and more than one throat choked in response. "I don't believe it." Ivanov muttered softly with narrowed eyes, "Fuck!" he swore a bit more loudly this time, "What does it take to KILL this thing!"

Matsuda felt a corner of his mouth twist upward in grim amusement. "Well, it wouldn't be a very effective autonomous war machine if it wasn't self-regenerating and capable of repairing itself now would it?" he asked.

Zhang abruptly straightened. Well, got even stiffer than he usually did. He cupped a hand over his right ear which was wearing a communication earbug. He grimaced. "Repeat that." he ordered in a cold, flat, and harshly robotic tone of voice. He nodded choppily. "Confirmed." he said and tore the earbug off. Everyone else in the room were starting to get nervous at his reaction. Zhang ignored their questioning looks and sidelong glances. Instead he looked at Matsuda and said, "That was the JSSDF. They're getting ready to use Final Scenario. Code name: Pale Horseman."

Matsuda felt like a hand had clenched into a fist over his heart. It had come to this. They were going to use the N2.

* * *

"OK Blackhawks," Goro spoke into the squadron channel, "form up with your wingman. We're going in," he pressed a key, cutting the circuit momentarily and glanced over his shoulder. "Closing into knife range is not what I had in mind," he remarked.

Sora nodded and sighed, "I know, but the plasma lasers lose a lot of their punch this far out and they're our last option."

Goro nodded. The further the distance, the more energy dissipated and conversely the closer they were, the more powerful the plasma lasers were. Of course, closing the distance meant getting closer TO the XT. Like about the thing's arm reach. Goro had seen enough movies to know how usually THAT brilliant idea turned out which is why he didn't think too much of this plan.

They still had a number of missiles and rockets to fire but they might as well be hurling spitballs at this thing. To be frank, he had his doubts about the effectiveness of the plasma lasers too. If this thing could shrug off the missiles they were hurling at it, the lasers couldn't possibly kill it either. But he wasn't about to just walk—er _fly_ away without trying everything. _Who knows,_ he thought wildly, _maybe it's only vulnerable to laser beams._ The rational part of himself just snorted and reminded him that this was real life not some manga. It couldn't possibly be THAT easy.

_Oh well, this beats being a chauffeur,_ he thought as he and his wingman began their attack run. He glanced at a HUD that showed the rear angle view and nodded seeing his wingman as right in position to the right and below him. His knuckles tightened around the control yoke as they began a nice slow arc towards the XT and began to accelerate to maximum speed.

* * *

Matsuda glanced upwards and addressed the audio sensors built into the ceiling itself. "BRAINIAC?" he inquired, sounding much more calmly than he actually was.

Instantly a new holographic screen popped up showing three glowing spinning circles arranged in an upside down triangular pattern. "BRAINIAC is online General Matsuda," the deep and resonant voice of the sophisticated artificial intelligence spoke.

"Data projections on the XT," Matsuda requested evenly.

"Absence of hard data lowers accurate computed predictions by approximately 43.8 percent," the disembodied voice stated as if peevish at having to commit such a heinous crime as guessing. Guessing was ... imprecise.

Matsuda grinned slightly, "I won't hold it against you, BRAINIAC." he said knowing full well that BRAINIAC's suppositions were better than most people's facts.

"Very well. Current projections suggest that the current military forces possess a 23.7 percent chance of destroying the XT by use of conventional weaponry. That percentage is rapidly dropping downward. I believe it will be necessary to revise the projections within the next five minutes—"

* * *

The aerodynes raced towards Sachiel who abruptly halted and looked at the insects who had been buzzing around in circles around him were suddenly charging toward him. It cocked its head and considered.

Sora Kurosawa armed the four plasma lasers built into the wings of the aerodyne and waited as the targeting scope locked onto the XT. Not that she could possibly miss a target this size but she wasn't about to take any chances. The crosshairs flashed green and sounded a steady tone but she waited, her finger mere millimeters above the discharge key panel and waited as the XT loomed larger and larger in the screen. _Steady,_ she thought to herself.

_Steaaady..._ She felt a bead of sweat running down her forehead.

They were practically right on top of Sachiel. _NOW!_ Sora thought and stabbed the fire button ... as Sachiel flung out its arms upwards and space rippled and distorted as a wall of force formed in midair. Four brilliant beams of light lashed out from the muzzles of the wing cannons. Less than a second later, the other aerodynes fired as well and multiple streaks of light rained forth.

And did absolutely nothing.

The beams struck Sachiel's Absolute Terror Field and were bent or twisted aside. Sachiel merely impassively watched as the Blackhawks' last ditch attempt completely failed to penetrate his defensive barrier.

Goro blinked. "What the Hell?" he blurted as he stared at the rippling energy field and the deflecting beams streaking off harmlessly. Then he remembered their course heading which was—! "Break off! Break off!" he shrieked and yanked the control yoke hard.

The entire aerodyne shuddered and groaned as it twisted into a modified barrel roll, barely evading the crackling energy field. Goro grunted as the G-forces slammed into his midriff but he remained in control of the aerodyne, yanking it out of its roll and stabilizing its flight path.

Goro saw and heard the explosion behind him. He glanced at the rear view HUD and winced seeing the remains of his wingmate's aerodyne tumble off, scattering across the rest of the glowing energy field.

He saw another aerodyne crash headlong into the AT Field, it's structure crumpling before it too exploded in a brilliant flash proving the age old maxim of what happens when an irresistible force meets an immovable object. And the aerodyne was sadly no irresistible force. It was like watching a bug splattering onto the windshield of a car.

He heard Sora groan as a third attempted to evade its but was fraction too late. One of it's wings impacted with the AT Field and snapped off with it's entire engine. The entire aircraft violently spun around out of a control like a top. It bounced once, twice off the forcefield and for a second, Goro thought the pilot might somehow regain partial control before it smashed a third and final time and exploded, shredding itself to pieces.

A fourth barely managed to react to the sudden evasion order and skimmed the surface of the energy field, skidding briefly across part of the AT Field. One of its engines sparked and smoked as it fought for control of the crippled craft.

The rest of the squadron had reacted in time, peeling off to evade a head on collision with the AT Field.

_Dammit! Three aircrafts down with a fourth probably not combat capable anymore. And the blasted XT had a forcefield!_ Goro thought in disbelief and almost petulantly, _that was fucking cheating or... or... or SOMETHING!_

* * *

"—excuse me." BRAINAC paused for a moment before resuming smoothly, "It would appear the time needed for revising the projections were somewhat inaccurate."

A second holographic screen appeared as it replayed the scene of the plasma lasers striking the AT Field again and being deflected at a much slower speed and then freezing in mid-frame of the energy barrier.

"The XT has just demonstrated the capacity for generation of an AT Field," BRAINIAC reported.

"I know! I just saw it!" Matsuda snarled at the AI.

Unaffected by the emotional outburst, BRAINIAC continued, "Although structurally dissimilar, the AT Field generated by the XT possesses an identical waveform pattern to the xenological organism code named Invader One," BRAINIAC stated firmly as another holo screen appeared of a captured video image of Sachiel was placed side by side with a grainy static photo copy of a gigantic being of light with a text inset below it. _'Antarctica. 2000 A.D.'_

Matsuda felt a corner of his mouth twitch involuntarily at that bit of information. "Damn," he whispered.

BRAINIAC continued dispassionately, "I hereby conclude that this XT is indeed related to the one present at Antarctica fifteen years ago. I currently project that the military possesses a .02 percent chance of destroying the XT which I am therefore now classifying as Invader Two."

Matsuda nodded grimly. Those were odds that would make even a professional gambler sweat.

* * *

"Suppressive fire!" Goro bellowed. _They had to get the Hell out of there! They were all sitting ducks! If that thing attacked the scattered and disorganized squadron now, they'd be slaughtered!_

"Roger!" Sora screamed, instantly understanding that they had to distract and delay the XT. Her fingers flew over the keyboards and immediately the armored panels popped open and a series of magnesium flares shot out and ignited, their blinding radiance shimmered off the AT Field.

It was quickly followed by a series of conventional explosive warheads. Most detonated upon contact with the barrier, sprinkling the AT Field with pinpricks of light and heat and concussive force. Some however did not. They struck at an angle and were deflected off.

Some flew onward where the safety range package caused them to self-destruct.

Some were sent spinning off. Their guidance system confused, the almost brainless missiles delayed detonation, unable to confirm that they were out of possible range of friendly forces and thus, a few were still trying to sort out their location when they impacted to the earth.

One struck an entire grove of trees that had survived unscathed Sachiel's passage and was now demolished now by a failed attack of man.

Another blasted a small hill and completely leveled it.

A third plowed a huge trench in a field when its trigger mechanism malfunctioned and remained for several days before it was retrieved by an ordnance disposal team.

A fourth and final missile however struck a section of a highway. Concrete stressed and shattered and went flying. A huge chunk went sailing and pulverized an electric transformer. Actually, a KEY electric transformer.

It sent a massive surge of electricity throughout its grid. It blew out the various electric lights and traffic signals for this section of the highway, mostly inconvenient but relatively minor damage. However a portion of the grid also covered a section of the magnetic levitation rail array which serviced the mag-lev train.

The surge of electricity scrambled the servitor droid which was still in the process of connecting itself to the mainframe of the computer server. It let out a scrambled squeal as current poured into it. The droid had surge protectors of course. Those surge protectors however were never intended for the level of electricity that the servitor was subjected to and blew out.

Shinji Ikari let out a cry of surprise as bright white and blue sparks flashed from the spindly body of the floating robot as it twitched and jerked before it crashed into the plush carpet. Then all of the lights sparked and sputtered, several of them exploding.

Shinji let out another scream and threw up his hands to shield himself from the bits of glass showering him before suddenly the entire car jerked and he heard the magnetic levitators flutter and fail, causing the entire car to drop over a foot.

He gave another cry as the entire car slammed onto the track with a sound like a bomb going off and he was knocked off his feet and sent flying. Even as he went airborne, part of his mind inanely remarked that he was sure screaming an awful lot, a split second before he crashed into the carpet.

Speed and inertia caused the entire passenger car to continue for several hundred feet before grinding to a halt.

And then ... all was silent.

* * *

**A/N:** To whom it may concern, Sachiel is indeed the Third Angel but MOST of the human race currently believes these gigantic creatures to be alien invaders. Only Lorenz Keele and the members of SEELE who have possession of the Dead Sea Scrolls know otherwise. The JSA does not and thus, refers to them as XTs.

Also, as far as the JSA is aware, Adam is the first and only one they have encountered. Save for Kal-El of course. They never discovered Lilith, so as far as they know Sachiel is the SECOND Invader.

I always thought it was a bit stupid for NERV to constantly refer to Sachiel as the Third Angel. It begs the question that if this was the third, then what was the first two? Considering that they were trying to cover up Adam's emergence as a meteorite impact and hide the existence of Lilith, it was almost like asking people to question things with such an obvious numbering system with a few missing numbers.

On a separate note, I would like to dedicate this chapter to Arthur Hansen. When I first started this thread on _Anime Aadventures_ and began this storyline several years ago, Arthur was kind enough to lend his time and effort to correcting my massively incorrect grammar and horribly disjointed fragments. A task he continues to do to this very day as well as allowing me to bounce my ideas, both good and bad off him for his opinion. This was actually the first episode that he helped me revise and correct. I probably don't say it often enough, but thanks Art, I don't think it would have come out as well as it did.

He doesn't post anymore on the _Aadventures_ but he's still on here and does occassionally update his work.


	10. Derailed Plans

**DC Evangelion**

**Chapter 10: **_Derailed Plans_

* * *

"Uh oh."

Upon hearing those fatal words, Shigeru Aoba glanced over his shoulder to look at the other work station. His co-worker Makoto Hyuga who had uttered those words, was busy staring at one of his tactical readouts in worry.

"Something wrong?" he asked casually, curious but far too busy with his own work.

"I think we might have a bit of a problem," Hyuga said slowly.

"And just what sort of problem might that be Lieutenant?" a new voice asked, cutting into the conversation. Shigeru fought the urge to yelp and jump through the ceiling. Hyuga jerked in surprise too, indicating that he hadn't noticed the arrival of Air Marshal Luo Zhang either.

Zhang gave both men a slight smile. Neither of them felt the least urge to return it.

Shigeru should have known. The man seemed to immediately home in on situations. It was uncanny. It was also damn disturbing. Many suspected that Zhang had the entire Geo-Front wired. Or was in league with the Devil.

"Uh ... it's about the special mag-lev passenger car. The one carrying the new Pilot Candidate?" Hyuga asked, sweating as he was trying to work up the nerve to tell his superior officer the bad news.

In olden times, the bearer of bad news might be put to death but Hyuga Makoto was pretty sure that the Articles of War did not allow for a superior officer to execute his subordinates. At least not for informing him of bad news. Fairly sure. Almost sure. But he had no real desire to test it … or Zhang for that matter.

"I am aware of the passenger car," Zhang said patiently. "What about it?"

"We uh ..." Hyuga glanced longingly towards Aoba, hoping for moral support and found his long haired ex-friend hunched over his console and frantically tapping away, clearly doing his best to ignore the entire conversation. _Traitor,_ Hyuga thought darkly. He shifted his gaze back at his screen, as though willing for the information to suddenly change. It didn't. "That last missile attack damaged the electric power grid and knocked several sections of the grid completely out. Which includes a portion of the magnetic rail line. _We kinda sorta lost all contact with the passenger car,_" he finished the last sentence in a rush.

Marshal Zhang didn't even blink. Almost lizard-like, he continued to stare evenly at Hyuga. "I see," Zhang remarked in a gentle, soft tone of voice.

For a brief, _very_ brief moment, Hyuga entertained the hope that Zhang was sympathetic to his plight.

The brief but pleasant hallucination was brutally crushed under the hard heel of reality as Zhang raised an eyebrow and with a thin smile said, "I suggest you find it… quickly."

Somehow Hyuga had a disturbing feeling that Zhang wouldn't dream of violating the Articles of War. And that was because death was way too nice. The look that Zhang was giving him said, _"Kill you? Don't be ridiculous. Killing you would be too quick. Too final. Not … __**creative**__ enough."_

Hyuga began perspiring and tugged at his suddenly too tight collar.

* * *

"Are you fucking KIDDING me!" General Hiro Matsuda bellowed, then visibly checked his instinctive response to curse some more. Instead he glared at the holographic image of Marshal Zhang, who was impassively and silently gazing back at him.

"You LOST him?" Matsuda demanded through clenched teeth.

"We are at the moment, unaware of the Pilot Candidate's exact location," Zhang admitted.

Ivanov snorted from another holographic screen, "We lost him," he translated.

Zhang's shoulder twitched in a minimalist shrug. "More or less," he replied in agreement.

_Mostly less,_ Matsuda thought wryly as he fought the urge to giggle hysterically. This was definitely NOT his day. Hell, it was not his CENTURY actually, as he remembered that the turn of the Millennium hadn't been all that great either what with losing half of the human population.

He turned and punched a comm key. A new holographic screen popped up. "Wake up Rei," he ordered.

The image of Kozo Fuyusuki frowned. "Her physical condition hasn't improved greatly," he warned.

"I know," Matsuda agreed, "but she's not dead yet. And we need her."

Fuyusuki looked confused, "But EXO-Frame 00 is still in the middle of a regeneration cycle in cryo-statis. We can't release it for another week at least. Even if we did take it out now, it certainly wouldn't be operational."

Matsuda knew it to be true. When one of the solar batteries had accidentally ruptured, it caused massive trauma to the cranial nerves of the Zero (as many of JSA had taken to calling the prototype). And not so incidentally severely injuring their only pilot as well. As bad luck would have it, Rei had been in the middle of exiting the Zero's Control Sphere when the accident occurred and had been totally exposed and unprotected to the explosion.

"I know," Matsuda said with a choppy nod. "That's why we're going to use EXO-Frame 01."

Fuyusuki's eyes widened fractionally then narrowed.

EXO-Frame 01 was theoretically the most powerful of all of the fighting machines built by the JSA.

_**Theoretically**_ being the key operative word there.

They had never been able to actually activate the bloody thing. Rei had attempted numerous times to trigger the slumbering giant but had failed each and every single time.

Fuyusuki opened his mouth. Probably to remind him of all of the problems with 01. Instead, he shut his mouth into a tight slit and nodded. The holo screen blanked.

Matsuda glanced at the other two screens showing his subordinates. "Ivanov, contact the JSSDF. Tell them we need to delay Pale Horseman. Buy us some time," he ordered and then refocused on Zhang and slowly raised a single finger to point directly at him, "Find Pilot Ikari. Send cars, scramble airplanes, retask spy satellites, dispatch MPs, recruit bloodhounds, use smoke signals, I don't care! Find that kid! **NOW!**"

Both holo screens blinked off. Matsuda cursed and pinched the bridge of his nose as he clenched his eyes shut feeling the onset on a migraine. No one could possibly be having as bad a day as him.

* * *

Major Hikaru Goro cursed. He was having a bad day and it was only getting worse. He drew his eyes away from the HUD that showed the falling smoking wreckage of another aerodyne.

His tac officer Lieutenant Sora Kurosawa barked, "Load another salvo of Dragon's Teeth!" and a split second later, "Fire!" she cried into her pick-up mike. Instantly the circling aerodynes let fly another wave of missiles. Goro watched as the missiles detonated in mid-flight, unleashing the thermoplastic filaments that rapidly expanded into a mass of triangularly shaped darts. The monomolecular edged knives flayed Sachiel who ignored them, his body immediately regenerating itself as he raised an arm again.

"Evasive!" Goro called out, executing a snap roll as a brilliant beam of energy blasted forth from the forearm of the massive XT. It cut through empty air as the various aerodynes spun themselves out of the path of the beam. Goro nodded approvingly. No casualties this time. They were getting better at this. They were getting a feel for this thing's reactions and reflexes. Unfortunately the XT was getting a feel for theirs too.

"Shit!" Sora swore, "This is getting real old!"

Goro smirked, "I thought you said that you were always ready to blow stuff up."

"Yeah but when I do, it usually has the decency to stay down," Sora retorted. "This stupid thing either ignores it or gets right back up!" she protested.

Goro grunted. She was right. This wasn't working. The XT was just bleeding them of men and aircraft. They weren't even hurting it.

He heard some muttering on one of the comm channels and scowled in annoyance. Depressing a key he barked, "Either speak up or shut up," he ordered.

"_Sorry sir,"_ he heard as the unseen voice cleared their throat, _"but me and my tac officer were discussing something. We got an idea. We think we could boost the output of the plasma lasers enough to hurt that thing."_

Goro inclined his head, "Well?"

"_We override the software controls and max out the plasma burst emitters, we can ramp up the power levels and get off a couple of shots of nearly four, maybe five times regular power."_

Goro glanced over his shoulder to see if Sora was getting this. Sora's eyebrow was twitching. She spoke up, "Yeah, and those software controls are there for a reason you know, not the least of which being not to blow ourselves up or blowout the entire prefire chambers."

"_Yessir, but we were looking over the engineering specs and tolerances of the prefire chambers and the engineers built them with a good safety margin in mind. They can contain an overloading plasma emitter without a breech. And the software controls are just there to keep the plasma emitters from overloading anyways."_

"Uh huh," Goro said unable to keep a skeptical tone out of his voice. "And that safety margin isn't anything to fiddle around with. Which you and your tac officer weren't doing on your free time were you." Goro said in a tone of voice that was more of statement than a question.

"_Uh…"_

Goro continued in a dry tone of voice, "Otherwise, I'd be forced to speculate that there may be some _connection_ to that report I received a week ago, detailing how a bunch of burst emitters worth a couple of million dollars each needed replacing when the maintenance crew swore up and down that they were good for at least another year of service."

"_Yes sir, extreme speculation, sir. This was a radical, on the spur of the moment sort of idea which we would never even __**dream**__ of trying out on our own,"_ the unseen pilot said hastily in a tone of voice that was as pure as the driven snow.

"I thought so," Goro said dryly. He cut the connection momentarily to glance over his shoulder at Sora, "I feel like a conservative old man in charge of a group of insane, young, reckless hotheads," he said, knowing that most of these kids were only seven or eight years younger than himself. "What do you think?" he asked gravely.

Sora drummed her fingers thoughtfully, "It is creative," she admitted slowly. She reached over and tapped a few computer keys and waited as the computer digested it and thought about it for a moment before reluctantly displaying the results.

Sora looked up and tapped the display screen, "And according to these numbers, the prefire chambers can hold and the computers say it IS possible to rewrite the software," she said before slowly shaking her head, "But the plasma emitters can't possibly take that sort of output. Not for long anyways. We probably can get off two or three shots before they overload and burn out completely. And once they're fried, we can't use 'em anymore."

Goro nodded, "But if we don't use 'em, we might as well not even have them to begin with," he pointed out. He sighed knowing his decision was made for him already. Then he frowned deeply. "This is those two chuckleheads Kenichi and Sanada's idea right?" he asked Sora.

Sora sniggered and nodded.

_Great. _Goro thought rolling his eyes. _Just my luck. I'm relying on Dumb and Dumber. The title of the later seemed to fluctuate between the two._

"Thought so. If we live through this, I'm going to give those two a piece of my mind for fooling around with those plasma emitters," Goro growled as he shook his head, "We're lucky those two twits didn't blow themselves up AND the rest of the base too. Including us."

* * *

His head hurt. A lot.

In fact, his entire skull was throbbing.

Shinji Ikari cracked opened his eyes and examined the ceiling of the train compartment. _By God, even his eyeballs hurt!_

He closed his eyes and lay still for several moments, willing the pain to ebb. He reached up with a hand and massaged his temple. He wondered if he was suffering from a concussion or something. He had hit his head pretty damn hard. He wasn't sure if he had blacked out for a moment.

He shook his head and winced as it felt like someone had just jabbed an icepick into his frontal lobe. Mentally noting not to do that again, Shinji struggled to recall what had happened. He had seen things. Heard things. For a few seconds there, it was almost as if he was somewhere else.

"…_engaging neural connection, preliminary neural interface complete…" _

"…_solar batteries are fully charged…" _

"…_testing solar tap relays…" _

"…_start nerve synchrographic…"_

A jumble of voices, all speaking things that he didn't understand. For a moment, it felt as though his entire body was tingling, like every single muscle in his body had gone to sleep all at once. His arms and legs were there, he could feel them but it was like they belonged to a stranger or something. There was a jolt and then slowly the prickling feeling on his skin faded away. He opened his eyes again and saw her.

She was about his age. Strangely enough, she was dressed in some strange white outfit and was covered in bandages that were wrapped around portions of her body including part of her face. One single cyclopean blood red eye stared at him, the other one was hidden by her dressings.

She stretched out her hand towards him. Pleadingly. Almost desperately. Instinctively, Shinji reached out his hand as well. They could almost touch, their hands almost making contact when her form began to waver. It became hazy and translucent. And then she vanished.

Shinji blinked and lowered his hand.

_Whoa. That was some hallucination._

He pondered the entire incident. He couldn't be sure but he thought that he read somewhere that hallucinations were fragments of your subconscious mind at work. His mind sure seemed to favor highly symbolic imagery. He wondered what it all meant though. _Must be Freudian,_ Shinji mused.

* * *

Within a hi-tech chamber, there was high-pitched whine as the enormous robot raised its head fractionally and its eyes began to glow with an internal light.

"…nerve synchro at threshold levels…" BRAINIAC reported, monitoring the complex series of neural impulses.

Suddenly the overhead lights switched to an ominous blood red and began to flash stridently in sequence as a high-pitched siren began blaring at a frequency that causes their eardrums to vibrate.

"Spike!" Maya Ibuki shouted white faced.

"Shit!" Ritsuko Akagi cursed, slamming her fist on the control console and then resolved not to do that again, rubbing her throbbing hand.

"Neural synchrographs are spiking! We're losing synchronicity!" Maya reported, her eyes flickering over her frantically scrolling screens.

Ritsuko Akagi stared as the fluctuating graphs of neural activity that had been in the process of merging, fluctuated and began to divide again.

The high-pitched whine sputtered and died as the robot's eyes dimmed and it's head lowered back to it's original position.

Ritsuko shook her head and pressed a control key. Instantly, a holo screen appeared in midair, projecting the image of a gasping teenage girl leaning over, the bangs of her dark black hair hanging over her face. "Rei? Are you alright?" Ritsuko asked.

The girl wordlessly nodded. "Just give me a moment," she whispered. After a moment of breathing heavily, she looked up shakily, "Try it again," she said, wiping a sheen of sweat off her forehead with the back of her hand.

Ritsuko pursed her lips as her eyes flicked to a secondary screen that was displaying and updating Rei's neurological scans. The process of a failed neural interface resulted in a lot of feedback on the pilot. Her cranial impulses were fluctuating and discharging wildly. "We need to reset the system." Ritsuko lied. The interface equipment was perfectly fine. They could immediately restart at any time but Ritsuko wanted to give Rei a bit of recovery time.

Rei nodded jerkily and leaned back in her interface harness. "Very well. I'll wait," she responded while she closed her unbandaged eye. Ritsuko depressed the key and the holo screen blanked. Both she and her assistant Maya exchanged looks. It wasn't working. It never worked. Not with Rei. She couldn't understand it. Theoretically, Rei should be able to interface with any EXO-Frame.

But it was almost as if EXO-Frame 01 had a mind of it's own.

And that mind didn't WANT Rei.

"Doctor," Maya trailed off as Ritsuko gave her a look. Ritsuko softened it with a faint smile. "Reset the system. Reload the neural profile and let's try it again. Who knows? We may get lucky," she said, the last part a bit more cheerfully.

Maya Ibuki brightened and nodded. She immediately turned and began tapping keys, beginning her work.

Ritsuko Akagi folded her hands together and bit her lip nervously. _We could use some right about now,_ she thought grimly as she examined the various screens that were scrolling bits of data almost too fast for a normal human to read and interpret.

But her attention was not on them.

Slowly her gaze was drawn to the dense armorplast viewport and upwards to the gigantic titan that silently towered above all of them.

_Why?_ she wondered. _Why not Rei? What was it about her that made this EXO-Frame refuse a mental link?_ Ritsuko just couldn't understand it. And quite possibly the entire human race was depending on her to puzzle this out.


	11. Misato's Mission

**DC Evangelion**

**Chapter 11: **_Misato's Mission_

* * *

She needed a drink.

Unfortunately she was on duty (not that would have normally stopped her) and in the presence of several JSSDF officers who might frown upon that (which did prevent her from indulging). Or even worse, might report it to her superior officer. Who was one of the strictest, humorless, By-the-Book-Or-Die jerks she had ever had the misfortune of serving under—

BREE-DEEP!

Misato Katsuragi blinked as she looked down at her pocket and extracted her chirping cell phone. She flipped it open and brought it up to her ear, "Yeah?"

"_Captain Katsuragi, this is Air Marshal Luo Zhang."_

Misato stared at her phone in mild shock. Oh crap. That was damn scary. Was the bastard telepathic or something?

"_Captain Katsuragi are you there?"_

"Uh er, yes sir!" Misato blurted out, reflexively stiffening into attention and saluting before she belatedly realized that he couldn't see her anyways. She cursed under her breath. Zhang always made her feel like she was unfit to be wearing a uniform or alternatively like she still needed potty training.

"_Very good. I have a job for you,"_ Zhang remarked dryly in a tone of voice that didn't quite say 'I severely doubt you are competent enough to handle it' but sure came close, Misato reflected.

* * *

Shinji staggered towards the rear of the compartment. One of his feet kicked something hard and metallic. He winced at his stubbed toes and glanced downward. Resting at his feet lay the body of the servitor droid. There was a faint clicking noise and a buzzing coming from it's prone body. Spasmodically, it twitched then stopped.

Crouching down, Shinji turned it over and examined it. It's optic sensors blinked on and off in a weird pattern. He looked over its somewhat rotund body but didn't find any kind of recessed panels or reset buttons or anything. Just smooth metal. He shrugged and got back up, dusting off his pants and continued walking towards the rear door of the first class passenger car.

He tried the door handle. It twisted and he heard the pressure seal pop open and then grind to a halt. He tried the handle again. This time it didn't even budge. Shinji examined the door and found a small unobtrusive panel. In the dim light, he saw **EMERGENCY EXIT HANDLE ACCESS** stenciled in bold letters on the panel and red coding stripes encircling it.

He yanked the panel open and saw a lever with a rubberized hand grip. It was accompanied by a flashing arrow sign indicating the direction he was suppose to pull the thing or so he assumed. Shinji gripped the lever and yanked it upward. Slowly the door creaked open about an inch or two and the lever retracted to it's former position. Another yank was accompanied by the door sliding another inch.

Shinji sighed and started cranking the lever as he kept one eye on the ever so slowly widening opening. _This,_ he reflected, _was going to take a while._ Lucky for him, he didn't have anywhere else to be.

* * *

Misato jogged to her sports car, "I don't understand sir, why was I chosen to locate the Pilot Candidate?" she asked as she unlocked the door and jumped into the seat and began strapping herself in, "Aren't there more suitable personnel for this task?" she asked while mentally stating the real question, _Why am I the lucky one?_

Deep within Fortress 1, Luo Zhang folded his arms behind his back and turned away from the scrolling holographic screen displaying an image of an unsmiling and slightly grumpy looking Misato Katsuragi followed by her personal data and service record. "Nonsense Captain, you are ideally suited for this task," he said smoothly. "We need someone who is attached to the JSA and is in the general vicinity of the mag-lev train and is not directly involved in the ongoing tactical operation. You are the JSA liaison officer at the JSSDF forward observation post and only peripherally involved."

_Translation, we need somebody and you're the closest,_ Misato unflatteringly decoded.

"_In addition you are clearly well versed in operating ground vehicles at high speeds and evasion tactics,"_ Zhang remarked.

Misato blinked. She smiled slightly, "Uh thank you, sir. I wasn't aware that was in my military records—"

"_Indeed,"_ Zhang continued in an unemotional, clipped tone of voice, _"a most impressive record. Thirty-seven moving violations, fifty-two citations for speeding, twenty-three for reckless driving, and another seventeen for various traffic code infractions. Discounting of course, the other eighty-four parking tickets."_

Misato cringed from her phone. _Oh crap, he knew about her driving record?_ She sunk lower into her seat, "Er yes, well, I uh … I just mailed a check for those parking tickets sir," Misato said lamely and thumped her forehead against the steering wheel.

* * *

Major Hikaru Goro tightened his grip on his throttle as he half-listened to Lieutenant Sora Kurosawa speaking swiftly and softly into her throat mike. "—and I want multiple concerted fire, watch your beams, and follow your targeting computers op plans exactly or I'll have your goddamn heads!"

She studied her tactical status readouts for a moment and then looked up. "Ready," she reported.

Goro nodded and keyed his own mike, "Blackhawks advance!"

He glanced at the HUDS and watched a holographic representation of his remaining fighters moving into their prearranged positions. Along with Kenichi and Sanada's not-_quite_-suicidal-but-damn-near stupid idea to boost the plasma laser output, Sora had come up with a few new wrinkles to the idea. He grinned wolfishly. He hoped the XT liked them.

"Arm plasma lasers. Cut all software interlocks," Sora commanded and stabbed a few control keys. Almost immediately a crimson alert panel began flashing and an annoying audio alarm began blaring.

"Fire Control Master Alarm off," Sora snapped, thumbing the disable switch on the panel. "And cross your fingers," she murmured.

_Hell, cross your toes too if you can,_ Goro silently added. Despite all of Sora's computer projections and modeling, they were still fooling around with four miniature sub-nuclear reactors. Deliberately causing them to overload. **Deliberately.**

It was incredibly risky.

Hell, risky didn't really adequately describe this plan. It was akin to running across a minefield while juggling several live hand grenades and blindfolded and just to make things interesting, doing it while being shot at from all sides.

If you wanted to kill yourself, it would be a lot easier and simpler to just stick a gun to your head and pull the trigger.

_But I didn't choose a life in the military just to play it safe,_ Goro thought as Sora bellowed, "OPEN FIRE!" and then it was as if a miniature sun had ignited, flooding the entire cockpit with intense white light.

"SHIT! ARE WE DEAD?" Goro screamed, blinded and alarmed. He imagined for a second that Kenichi and Sanada had overestimated things and that the prefire chamber could NOT take a maxed out plasma emitter after all.

"Not yet we aren't."

Sora's matter of fact voice cut through the sudden burst of panic, "Exterior cameras were temporarily overloaded by the glare," and Goro heard her rapidly clicking computer keys, "polarizing cameras, resetting visual parameters, dampening brightness … _**now**_."

Instantly the HUDS shifted, darkening and Goro felt a surge of relief that the exterior view came back albeit with a darker tint to the viewscreens.

_Dammit, I knew that those stupid cameras were a bad idea,_ Goro mentally cursed. _We were fucking blind for a few seconds there. If the XT had attacked—!_ he mentally cut off his fulminating cursing at idiot engineers who weren't risking their lives on their shoddy design work and refocused on his instruments.

He flicked a look at his screens. The rest of the Blackhawks were still in the air which meant that Kenichi and Sanada were right and the prefire chambers had held. Which upgraded their not-quite-suicidal-but-damn-near stupid idea to just being _**merely**_ stupid.

Part of him debated on whether or not to commend them for their brilliant originality or reprimand them for sheer idiocy. He made a note that if he did have to give them any medals for this stunt, he'd combine it with his admonishment by hammering said medals into their thick skulls.

"Talk to me Sora!" Goro barked.

His tac officer nodded, "Replaying video."

A miniature holo-screen popped open. He glanced sidewise at it to see a replay of the plasma lasers firing and whistled soundlessly. It wasn't like before with several dozen streamers of light. Those beams were more like a damn torrent of blazing fury that lashed out to smote their wrath on the XT's forcefield.

He watched as the carefully sequenced and staggered fire that Sora had meticulously worked out to strike the field at separate points simultaneously. The AT Field couldn't take it. Goro watched as several of the beams punched through to smash into the body of the XT. The massive transfer of energy was more like an explosion and the creature went down.

He looked up and saw the XT getting back up to its feet gracelessly. _They hurt it._ Goro's eyes narrowed as they focused on the blackened, burnt torso that wasn't healing as rapidly as before. _They had hurt it! _

"Do it again!" he barked.

Sora began tapping keys, "Roger!"

* * *

Sunlight dazzled him as he stuck his head out of the train car and shaded his eyes with one hand. Giving his eyes a moment to adjust, he peered around. Nothing. Shinji Ikari frowned as he examined the woods and leaned over the railing to peek ahead. There appeared to be nothing but endless miles of track ahead.

He could wait here for a rescue team who were surely rushing over to save him. _Yeah. Right,_ he mentally snorted.

More likely he was going to be hoofing it. He examined his options. He could backtrack. But quite frankly he couldn't remember passing any stations for the last few hours. Of course he had been napping for a while there. Or he could hike through the forest and get lost, wander around, and starve to death. Or die of dehydration. Not likely. He didn't even own a compass.

Which left going forward. He was reasonably sure that there had to be a station somewhere at his destination ahead. Or a phone at least. He took a step and then stopped and then shrugging, went back inside the car and collected his carry-on bag.

He slung the strap across his chest and paused as he gazed at the still twitching servitor robot lying in a crumpled heap. It looked so pitiful. So helpless. Abandoned. Just like him. He bit his lip and sighed.

Shinji leaped down from the train, cradling the robot in his arms as he began walking. Towards Tokyo-3.

* * *

It appeared to a gigantic humanoid robot.

Looks however can be deceiving.

It was not a machine but rather a blending of bio-organics and robotics.

It was EXO-Frame 01. The most powerful of the Enhancing Xenological Organisms Frames built by the Japanese Scientific Analysis and Advisory Board and was a hybrid of both human and Kryptonian DNA.

It was also one of their greatest failures for it had refused all attempts at activating it. Again.

There was a loud thrumming sound echoing throughout the chamber as tremendous power was being built up.

"Nerve synchronization at 12 percent … harmonics stable …" BRAINIAC announced over the public address system.

EXO-Frame 01 was not quite intelligent. But it wasn't sentient either. It was however much more than simply hard-wired biological instincts. It fell into the hazy category of being alive and partially aware. It could sense the other part of itself. The part that was not there. And it called to that half.

Ritsuko Akagi drummed her fingers absently as she stared at the flashing screens.

"Nerve synchro at 16 percent similarity … 18 percent …" Maya Ibuki reported as a trickle of sweat ran down her forehead.

Twenty percent. That was all Ritsuko was asking for. A lousy twenty percentage. That was all that was required for a minimal neural synchronization. For an activation of EXO-Frame 01. The drumming of her fingers increased in speed and intensity as she examined the screens and thought, _Almost there…_

"19 percent!" Maya blurted out, her voice cracking in excitement.

Ritsuko held her breath. This was it. Now or never.

"Approaching neural synchronicity," BRAINIAC remarked calmly. The quantum computer and artificial intelligence wasn't sweating, Ritsuko reflected.

EXO-Frame 01 was also aware of another presence. One that was attempting to bond with it. It felt familiar to it. There was a definite connection of that presence and itself. It tentatively touched it and felt the similarity.

The thrumming sound peaked, reaching a crescendo.

"Brainwave form patterns are stable, harmonics are good, pulse rates and repetition ratios are uniform," Maya continued to report, her eyes locked on her displays.

"Nerve synchro at threshold levels…" BRAINIAC remarked matter of factually. "Harmonics are at borderline, neural link engaging in 5 seconds…"

Similar.

"…4…"

But different.

"…3…"

It wasn't quite right.

"…2…"

It wasn't what the EXO-Frame wanted. _What it needed._

"…1…"

It broke the connection.

There was a loud sputtering and harsh crimson lights blinked on, overpowering the normal white lights and casting the entire chamber into a darkish red illumination and high-pitched sirens began blaring.

"System Error," BRAINIAC observed evenly, ignoring the agitated reactions of the various organic life forms. "Neural synchronization failed. Brainwave form patterns are disrupted."

Rei Ayanami screamed in pain and clutched her head as she was forcibly thrown back out of EXO-Frame's neural net. She felt like someone had successfully thrust a red hot poker into her forebrain.

Various workers and uniformed technicians scrambled and scurried around the catwalks and on the floor of the chamber. Ritsuko Akagi swore.

None of them noticed that the optic arrays of EXO-Frame 01 continued to glow faintly, illuminated with their own internal light.

Dimly, EXO-Frame 01 could sense the other part that it needed. For completion. To be joined with it to be whole. It could sense the other half to itself. And it was coming closer…


	12. The Greatest Game Of All

**Preface Notes:** _I've received quite a few comments from various readers about how slow I'm taking with this. I admit that this is not untrue but I like to think that I'm building up dramatic tension. One of the biggest complaints I had about the original _Evangelion _series was how rushed things were._

_I mean there seemed to be a very complex, incredibly detailed back story but it glossed over and only commented on in brief snippets. I understand it 'cause the creators had to compact it into a bunch of thirty-minute episodes and they had to focus on Shinji and the occasional other supporting character but I had so many questions about what was going on and about some of the technology that they were using that I felt cheated sometimes._

DC Evangelion_ is my response. I get to fill in the stuff that was going on in the background. The JSSDF, SEELE, the political machinations going on, and the various characters as well._

_I get a kick out of it. Hopefully, so will you and you won't find it too boring and you'll continue to read. If so, I gotta warn you that you'll be seeing quite a bit more of the stuff going on in the background like this chapter in particular. And I really was always planning on having this interlude bit in, I actually didn't include it just to torment you guys._

* * *

**DC Evangelion**

**Chapter 12: **_The Greatest Game Of All_

* * *

Multiple holographic projections hovered in the darkened room, displaying images and information from various sources around the world. Financial transactions, stock market fluctuations charts, and more. But he ignored them in favor of one lone holographic screen displaying a Japanese news broadcast accompanied by a voiceover, _"…state of emergency in the Kanto Region has been reported…"_

He leaned back in his padded chair and pursed his lips thoughtfully. _So, it was time,_ he thought to himself. He had been waiting and preparing for this day and he found himself actually eager to begin.

_Failing to plan, is planning to fail,_ he mentally reminded himself and spoke, "Chessboard."

Instantly in response to his command, the various projection screens blanked and then faded away, darkening the chamber and a new holographic image formed in midair in the center of the room.

It was a three-dimensional image of a chessboard only it was far larger than normal. The number of surface tiles was easily five the size of a regular board and instead of being a square, it was rectangular.

It had to be after all. The four separate corners indicated four separate and distinct forces. Each with their own objectives, agendas, powers, and allies. And all in contention with each other.

Various figurines and symbolic objects rested on the tiles. Even as the images stabilized and solidified, certain pieces moved and repositioned themselves.

A game was in play. _The Greatest Game of All,_ the bald man thought to himself as he studied the board and the movements.

In the first corner there was a scowling man wearing a high-tech visor. _**Lorenz Keele.**_

He felt a sneer of hate on his face forming but stilled it. Instead he studied the various pieces belonging to Keele.

Keele had numerous pawns arrayed around him. Moving and dancing to his will. He ticked them off. The inner council of SEELE. The various governments and agencies that he secretly controlled and manipulated from the shadows. Others represented certain political factions that he secretly funded and influenced. Still more represented the so-called terrorist groups that in actuality did his dirty work.

Scattered around Keele's corner lay his discarded pieces. His numerous pawns and various tools that he had used and then thrown away afterwards almost carelessly.

But that was not all.

Keele had other resources to call upon.

A finely worked scroll of aged parchment hovered in midair.

Beside it, a two pronged spear lay tilted at a forty degree angle.

They were all huddled together, clustered around the very edge of the board and keeping well away from the center of the board where a major conflict that was taking shape.

Finally the bald man turned his attention to the final piece that was tucked away at Keele's side, clearly protected by SEELE and the others but still in play. It was a naked woman with a pair of wings sprouting from her shoulder blades. She was kneeling, a heavy iron chain wrapped around her and her wings draped pathetically around her. He stroked his chin as he thoughtfully examined that last particularly valuable trump piece. Then he glanced away.

The second corner possessed a wide variety of pieces and many of them were in busily in play, a number of them were industriously shifting and repositioning themselves at that very moment.

He squinted as he found the miniature figure of General Hiro Matsuda. The General was standing in the position of the King but as far as the bald man was concerned, Matsuda was nothing more than a pawn as well. At the General's side stood Yui Ikari in the role of Queen. Kozo Fuyutsuki stood beside them, the faithful retainer. On the opposite side hovering in midair were a trio of circles interconnected with bands of faintly glowing electricity representing the quantum computer and artificial intelligence known as BRAINIAC.

He swept over a host of lesser characters scattered around the board; Doctor Ritsuko Akagi, General Yuri Ivanov, Marshal Luo Zhang, Professor Jay Garrick, Colonel Alan Scott and innumerable others composing the ranks of the Japanese Scientific Analysis and Advisory Board. The JSA. But they were purely insignificant.

Only one truly mattered.

Carefully screened and under the watchful gaze and protection of the others was a man with a pair of wings mounted on his back. Like the other figure guarded by SEELE, this man was also kneeling and shackled, his wings drooping as he crouched, imprisoned and locked away.

Arrayed before them stood 5 gigantic robotic knights holding a silent vigil. _**The EXO-Frames**_.

He studied the robots minutely and then directed his view to the third corner.

Centered around a golden cross stood a number of shadowy figurines. They were hazy and indistinct. Only one of their pieces was fully revealed and it was the only one in play.

It was a gigantic spindly limbed humanoid with a white almost bird-like mask for a face. A gigantic red globe was affixed to its chest.

The Third Angel.

_**Sachiel. **_

A number of pieces surrounded the Angel as it moved forward into the central area of the board. A tracked missile, a number of tanks, and a pair of aerodynes representing the various military units of the Japanese Strategic Self Defense Forces. But many more pieces lay broken and discarded as the Angel strode forward.

The bald man snorted as he watched the JSSDF position a few more tanks and rearrange their formations as they moved a glowing atomic nucleus representing the pinnacle of their military might. The N2 mine.

_Useless,_ he thought to himself. Sachiel could not be defeated by the forces of man. Only another of it's kind might be capable of matching it. And perhaps only the strange extraterrestrial strength of the EXO-Frames. They were an unforeseen variable. Even he could not accurately estimate their true potential and power. Yet.

Finally he turned to survey the fourth and final corner. A slight smile appeared on his features as he scrutinized a bald man with features identical to his own seated on a miniature throne. Naturally he was positioned in the King. _As well he should._ Like Keele, he too kept far away from the battle taking shape in the middle of the board.

He had a number of pieces as well. Through careful positioning, he had a number of them and even a few which were straddling between the two corners controlled by the JSA and SEELE. He felt a smug smirk twisting at the corner of his mouth.

Keele wasn't the only one who could plot and manipulate things. He too had been orchestrating things behind the scenes. Carefully advancing the JSA, subtly supporting them to negate SEELE at critical junctures. Keele had spent considerable influence and resources of his own to secretly sabotage and delay the JSA itself. Keele controlled several dozen terrorist organizations and government agencies that had blocked or delayed the JSA's agenda.

But that was fine.

Because Keele never realized that he was being played himself. Being manipulated to expend his time, his influence, his power against his obvious opponent and arrogantly assuming that no one else would dare challenge him.

Someone like _**him**_.

"Sir." A soft female voice interrupted his musings.

He turned from his contemplation of the board. "Yes, Eve?" he inquired.

The short, slender slip of a girl stepped forward into the light cast from the holographic chessboard and continued in her low voice, "A communiqué was transmitted to you fifteen minutes ago. From Lorenz Keele. Requesting an urgent meeting."

His eyes glinted with amusement. "I see."

He turned back to the board. Things were becoming very interesting. Very interesting indeed. Keele was getting desperate. Desperate enough that he was attempting to form an alliance with him no less.

Slowly, the corners of his mouth tugged upwards, splitting his blank face into a cold and cruel smile. Oh yes, things were moving exactly as he had planned. Even to the new figurine that had appeared by his throne on the chessboard. His own special trump piece. His ace in the hole as it were.

She was short and slender. Blood red eyes gazed placidly out from a pale white face and from bangs of light blue hair. He studied Eve's piece on the board. It was almost identical to her own appearance. Almost. After all, the albino girl standing next to him did not have the pair of furled wings visibly growing from her shoulder blades.

* * *

**A/N: **It wouldn't be _Evangelion_ if there wasn't Rei Ayanami around. I mean the original blue haired, red eyed one. In case you may have missed it or were wondering; my own version of Rei Ayanami is a hybrid clone of Yui Ikari and Kal El, so she is essentially half human and half Kryptonian.

Eve on the other hand, appears to be like the Rei in canon, half Angel, half human. Or so it seems. That's one of the reasons why my "Rei" has black hair to help differentiate between them. I did think it would be so cool to have this little sub-plot in where there are two almost identical Rei's running around.


	13. To Defy Heaven

**DC Evangelion**

**Chapter 13: **_To Defy Heaven_

* * *

Shinji shaded his eyes with his hand as he stared at the unbroken stretch of railway ahead of him and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

With a sigh, he continued walking as he turned his attention to the innards of the small servitor robot.

He had quickly gotten bored with just walking and had turned his attention to the robot he had brought with him. It had taken a while but he finally discovered the cunningly hidden joint seam and opened it. He scratched his head and poked at a loose circuit board.

With a pair of fingers, he gingerly picked it up and carefully inserted it into the proper slot. At least, he thought it was the proper slot. Come to think of it, that slot over there looked like it might accept the board as well. _Hmmm,_ he considered. This was a lot like a puzzle where you didn't know exactly what sort of picture you were putting together.

* * *

The air boiled and shimmered as the blazing fury of the plasma lasers thundered forth, igniting the molecules in the air. The torrent of energy struck Sachiel and there was a rolling series of explosions like a string of bombs going off. Heat bloomed and Sachiel went down again, his limbs flailing.

"Yes!" one of the JSSDF Generals triumphantly watching the several stories high holographic screen. He turned, glancing at General Matsuda standing to one side, "Looks like we don't need your toys after all Matsuda," he remarked smugly.

_We'll see,_ Matsuda thought grimly. He had to admit that the Blackhawks were doing rather well. Even BRAINIAC was surprised (although the quantum computer would never admit it) that they had been even able to hold the XT at bay for so long. He had been forced to revised his estimates twice already. _But that wasn't too surprising,_ Matsuda mused.

BRAINIAC literally possessed a database that included the total sum of human knowledge and was capable of performing calculations at blinding speeds but the computer was sadly lacking in imagination. It couldn't innovate or make intuitive leaps. That was what humans did best. Logic could only take you so far. Sometimes you needed a wildly impractical hunch.

But it wasn't enough. They could slow down the XT. They could hurt it. But they couldn't stop it. Matsuda grimly watched the image of the Blackhawks closed in, trying to box in the XT and gasped.

Lightning flared as an electric storm spontaneously appeared. The XT was surrounded by a flaring, flashing strobing nimbus of energized lightning. "What the Hell—!" Matsuda blurted out and leaned over to stab a button on a computer console, "BRAINIAC!" he barked.

"Analyzing. AT Field is undergoing rapid fluctuation and modulation in wave form pattern and density," the quantum computer stated flatly, almost abstractly, "I believe the XT is purposefully altering its AT Field."

"For what purpose?" Matsuda demanded, his momentary euphoria draining rapidly.

"93.7 percent probability that the XT is about to initiate a counterattack," BRAINIAC said tonelessly.

* * *

The entire airframe was shaking and groaning as the aerodyne was buffeted by hurricane force winds. Goro clenched his teeth together as he fought to stabilize them. It was a losing battle.

"All Tac Officers!" Sora screamed, "If you got a clear shot, take it!" and stabbed the fire key on her control boards. Incandescent beams stabbed out, accompanied by a few other beams erupting here and there around the XT. They streaked out and as before, the beams bent, twisting aside. "Oh shit, not again..." Sora cursed.

The AT Field was swirling now, rotating rapidly around Sachiel forming a glowing ball of light. Then slowly Sachiel began to rise. Higher and higher.

Goro stared, slack jawed. "It can fly?" he and Sora blurted out more or less simultaneously.

* * *

Shinji groaned as he took off his shoe and flexed his toes. He was sitting on a grassy knoll, taking a brief break from his hike. He glanced down at a small puddle of water. He could see his reflection in it. He sighed as he stared up at the blue sky. "Rather peaceful out here," he remarked.

* * *

Professor Fuyutsuki shivered in his oversized parka as he walked on a gigantic ice cube to where a group of technicians were standing. He clapped his hands together to try and get some blood circulating and cursed. He was too damn old for wandering around the gigantic cryo-vaults.

He approached a group of technicians who were busy setting up a tripod. He heard them hammering the spikes into the ice itself and quickly anchoring the bulky laser to the stand itself. "Power is up, targeting computer is online, we're hot!" one of the technicians yelled, giving a quick thumb's up.

"Fire." The supervisor ordered.

Fuyutsuki perked up, recognizing the supervisor's voice. He quickened his pace as the laser shrieked and unleashed a high-pitched blast that lasted for several seconds before the laser shut itself down.

Immediately the group of waiting technicians rushed into action, charging into the melted pool of slush and ice and thrust a several large metal rods into the bored hole. "Lowering probes," one of the technicians reported.

"Probing!" one of them yelled.

Everyone turned to another technician crouching nearby with a small array of monitors and complex equipment. "Biometric levels stable, in lower baseline levels for cryo-statis."

"Regeneration status?" the hooded supervisor asked.

"Nerve regeneration at," the technician paused as he consulted another monitor, clumsily tapping in a sequence in his gloved fingers, "43 percent."

"Very well. I want another sequence done at the mid-spinal quadrant." The supervisor ordered. Immediately the probes were pulled out of the pool as a pair of technicians walked up with a pair of tanks with hoses attached and began spraying down the small pool with liquid nitrogen, freezing it again. The others immediately began quickly and efficiently dismantling and packing up the tripod with the laser beam projector and began hustling off to the next site.

The supervisor watched them for a moment before turning to look at Fuyutsuki who came crunching up. The supervisor sighed as she reached up with her hands and pushed back the hood of her parka.

Yui Ikari looked irritably at Fuyutsuki, "I told Matsuda that I haven't finished my examination of the Zero yet," she said peevishly, "Tell him I need another hour."

Fuyutsuki knew his former student too well and raised an eyebrow, "But?"

Yui sighed again, "But my earlier estimates were correct. The Zero is going to need at least another week at least, probably more like a week and a half before it's regenerated to operational levels."

Fuyutsuki nodded, "Not too surprising," he remarked blandly. He decided not to mention that Matsuda hadn't really thought that the Zero could be made operational anyways. It was a pretext. He just wanted her out of the way. So he had sent Yui down into the cryo-vaults because the last thing Matsuda wanted was Yui to go into hysterical mother mode.

Yui grunted. "Any word on Shinji?" she asked.

"Not yet."

Yui was silent for a long moment as she shoved her hands into the pockets of her parka. "How's Rei?" she asked after a moment.

"Still trying to activate the 01," Fuyutsuki reported.

Yui was staring off into the distance, "It's not going to work you know."

Fuyutsuki sighed. "Only Shinji then?"

"Yes." Yui said simply shaking her head. "We ..." she paused and then corrected herself firmly, "_**I**_ made it too well. It's keyed to him and him alone. Think of 01 as a lock that will only accept one key."

"And that key is Shinji?"

"Yes. Rei is sort of like a skeleton key. She's able to link to all of the other EXO-Frames except 01," Yui said softly.

Fuyutsuki nodded silently and then pulled out a computer pad from his pocket, "Actually Matsuda didn't sent me about the Zero. I wanted to show you this," he explained as he activated the display.

Yui stared at the image of the XT soaring upward. As ponderously sluggish as a dead whale but nevertheless it was flying.

"We think," Fuyutsuki stressed, "is that it is manipulating it's AT Field to propel itself."

Yui took the computer pad and tapped a few keys thoughtfully. "Interesting," she remarked and then, "BRAINIAC?"

The display blanked, reappearing with an inverted triangle of three spinning circles, "BRAINIAC is online Doctor Ikari," the quantum computer spoke through the computer pad, "I am assuming that your query is in regards to the XT's recent demonstration of flight capabilities?" BRAINIAC asked politely and took her silence for assent and went on, "It is generating a singularly powerful AT Field which is interfering with our regular scans. However the wavelength and pattern of the AT Field is decidedly atypical of previously recorded manifestations. My current theory is that the XT is negatively inverting it's AT Field for gravitational propulsion."

"Very interesting," Yui remarked. She tapped a few computer keys absently, clearly deep in thought, "I saw that energy spear it was using earlier ... I wonder ..." she muttered as she tapping more keys.

"An interesting hypothesis Doctor Ikari," BRAINIAC remarked thoughtfully, "Please wait while I reprocess sensor data."

"Ikari?" Fuyutsuki cut in.

"Just an idea Professor," Yui spoke, "the fact that the XT is using the AT Field for flight made me realize that we may have been a bit shortsighted here. The AT Field may be much more versatile than we previously believed. In fact—"

There was a ringing chime as BRAINIAC abruptly cut into the conversation, "Excuse me for interrupting but I have just completed my analysis Doctor Ikari," BRAINIAC said urgently as a holographic image formed in midair of Sachiel and then layers of its surface was peeled away by magnetic resonance imaging and rotated.

"Your supposition was indeed correct. I have reassessed previous recordings of the XT. They indicate the usage of an AT Field being deployed not only for defensive purposes. It appears that a low-level AT Field is continually in use by the XT at the subdermal level."

Fuyutsuki smiled as he raised an eyebrow, "Reinforcing it's physical structure?" he supposed, "I did wonder how something so large could exist without collapsing under it's own weight."

"Not only that, but it would appear as it is using the AT Field for muscular movement," BRAINIAC reported. A new holographic screen popped up, showing an image of Sachiel walking and the view altered, showing a network of interconnected wavy lines and pulsating dots, "Observe. An augmented MRI scan." BRAINIAC stated as the track reversed and replayed itself in slow motion. A series of pulsating lines were highlighted, as the energy flows brightened momentarily and then decreased in activity as Sachiel strode forward.

"Interesting," hmmed Fuyutsuki.

"To say the least," Yui agreed.

"The energy spear that the XT was utilizing is actually a condensed and multi-layered AT Field," BRAINIAC added as a third screen appeared showing a slow motion replay of the XT discharging its harpoon from it's hand.

* * *

There was a loud cry as dozens of birds suddenly took flight, erupting from the forest. Shinji blinked as he watched the birds fleeing. "That was strange..." he murmured.

He glanced down at the pool of water and noticed that it was rippling. He watched as the water slowed its undulations and stilled.

* * *

A large number of tanks tumbled end over end as Sachiel landed in their midst and cut off it's negatively inverted AT Field.

Sachiel turned tediously, glancing momentarily at the aerodynes darting forward and then away, back towards it's objective. Tokyo-3. It took a single step forward, incidentally crushing a tank that had thus far managed to escape the fate of it's company.

"The field is down! OPEN FIRE!" Sora screamed over her communications channel and depressed the fire key on her console.

Once more, the Blackhawks answered. Streaks of intense light flashed out and smote forth on the body of Sachiel who staggered under the assault. It turned back to the aerodynes annoyed. It's arm, whipped up and lashed out with the energy spear but missed.

The Blackhawks held firm, blasting the XT again and again.

One might have called it courage or perhaps simple minded determination. Others might have termed it as foolish. Or an act of desperation.

They could not hope to stop Sachiel.

Logic, reason, even experience hard won at the cost of dozens and dozens of casualties told them so.

But they scorned such conclusions even as they sought to defy it.

* * *

Shinji was studying the pool of water with interest. _There it goes again,_ he thought. The water abruptly started rippling, spreading forth and disturbing the entire puddle before slowing and becoming a placid pool once more.

But he thought that the water was becoming more violent. Sloshing at the edges more and more forcefully. And the time between the moments of stillness were decreasing. He stared as the water was now almost bouncing, droplets of liquid splashing and it wasn't stopping anymore.

thoom.

He blinked.

Thoom.

_Again?_

**Thoom.**

_What was that?_ He cocked his ear, trying to locate the source of the sound.

_What was that noise? Thunder? Couldn't be. There wasn't a cloud in the sky._ He laid his palm flat on the ground. He could feel the earth itself trembling. _Earthquake?_ he wondered. _That might explain the reaction of the birds. But no earthquake ever sounded like that. It was utter nonsense but they almost sounded like ... well, like footsteps._

**THOOM.**

Shinji rose to his feet and watched as from behind a pair of hills, a group of aircraft emerged. They were flying backwards, apparently in formation.

No one could call them sleek and nimble. They were blocky and squarely angular. The best one could most charitably say about them was that they were ... solid-looking.

Most would refer to them as a blocky and squat brick and were about as aerodynamically looking as one.

But before Shinji could study them any further they erupted in a brilliant salvo of light that nearly blinded him. He flung up his arms instinctively and blinked frantically to clear the spots in his vision.

Then he saw it.

And his jaw dropped.

It was ... big. That was his first thought. His second was that it looked rather silly looking. The body was too big for it's spindly limbs, there was no apparent head except for some strange white bird-like mask/face centered on the upper chest with two black eyes. A gigantic pulsating red orb was located in the center of it's chest with what looked like ribs wrapped around it protectively.

It also moved far faster than Shinji would have thought possible. One of it's arms came up in a sweeping motion, swatting one of the aircraft out of the sky. The aerodyne went spinning out of control—it was arcing up and ... and Shinji paled as he realized the probable crash site of the aircraft was right where he was standing.

He gasped and ran. The impact was felt rather than heard. The shockwave washed over him and he was sent tumbling head over heels. He fell through the brush and the weeds and came to a stop near a stretch of freeway.

He shakily looked behind him to see a whole section of the forest was burning. Trees were shattered and the ground itself was torn and broken. Looking around he saw that his bag and the servitor droid was lying nearby. He picked them up more out of shock than anything else.

Missiles came shrieking overhead. There was the rolling percussion of multiple detonations.

He staggered forward to see the gigantic thing simply standing there, unhurt, unfazed in the middle of the firestorm. He stared. He was dreaming. He was hallucinating. He was something because this ... this could NOT be happening.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a blue blur. He turned as the sports car came careening around the blind curve and he screamed as it roared towards him!

* * *

Misato stuck her head out of the window and glared at the fallen boy just inches away from getting planted face first into her grillwork. The stench of burned rubber irritated her nostrils.

"HEY! Didn't your parents ever tell you not to stand in the middle of the road? #%##$$!" she vented her rage at the stupid airhead whom she nearly had made into a speedbump. Only her reflexes had enabled her to slam on the brakes in time.

Then she lowered her mirrored sunglasses and then eyed the trembling, pale faced boy closely. He looked familiar. She reached into the car and pulled out a small computer pad and examined the picture again.

She sweated. Oh crap. She nearly made roadkill out of the Pilot Candidate.


	14. The Modern Prometheus

**DC Evangelion**

**Chapter 14:** _The Modern Prometheus_

* * *

Five minutes ago, Ritsuko Akagi was ready to pull out her hair by the roots out of sheer frustration. She had done practically everything except go over there and kick the stupid thing. And the only reason why she hadn't was that she'd only break her toe. If she was lucky.

EXO-Frame 01 had proven stubbornly resistant towards all attempts at activating it. She had wished for the obstinately nonfunctioning pile of junk to do something ... anything.

Now as the alarms blared and alert panels were flashing stridently, she was sorely repentant that she had even _thought_ such a damn stupid thing.

* * *

_It was daunting really,_ thought Snapper Carr, President of the United States of America as he peered out through the window of Air Force One. Surrounding the massive aircraft was an entire squadron of high-speed _Firestorm_ Hoverjets, escorting their Commander in Chief across the Mojave Desert to Fortress 3.

He had seen the _Firestorms_ before of course. Hell, he was the one who signed off on the expense of building them after all. He had read their technical specifications, seen them in computer simulations, observed them in digitally enhanced videos, and even stood close up to them spiffed up and polished on the ground during a few military inspections and reviews.

But he had never actually seen them before like this. Not in the field. Not in flight.

Unlike the _Kamikaze_-class Aerodynes which were like flying tanks, the _Firestorm_ Hoverjets were a whole different breed of cat. Small, lightweight, and sleek, they looked like a bird of prey in flight. _Or perhaps a phoenix,_ Carr mused as he watched the fiery trail of hot plasma that each _Firestorm_ left in their wake and incidentally the source of their name.

The _Firestorm_ were the most agile fighter ever built. And they owed their extraordinary agility to the fact that the designers had deliberately stripped it of anything the craft couldn't absolutely do without. That included fuel, engines, or even conventional weaponry.

It sounded bizarre. Even insane when Carr first heard the proposal but he had forced himself to listen to the engineers discuss their idea and he admitted that it did sound logical. Sort of.

Built into the central body of the aircraft was the main rotor fan which gave the _Firestorm_ the power to defy gravity and hover. But for thrust, smaller ducted vents sucked up the air around the craft and blew it into the fusion furnace. The hydrogen molecules in the air combusted and became incredibly explosive plasma which was contained through a magnetic bottle which squeezed the mass of plasma to vent outward as a roaring jet of white-hot flame for propulsion. Which meant that the craft possessed an effective unlimited range and an unlimited supply of fuel.

And a small quantity of the plasma could be tapped for other purposes. Such as a series of offensive plasma bursts that were far more effective than say a bullet. They lacked the ability of a missile to turn in midair to follow a speeding target, but the plasma bursts were by far much faster than a missile and they could fire over half a dozen shots per second, in addition to having a relatively unlimited supply of ammunition. Which was a worthwhile trade off thought most of the pilots.

Snapper turned away from his window gazing. He crossed his legs and then adjusted the armrests and then uncrossed his legs nervously. He was just delaying things. Trying to ignore things. But he couldn't. Well, _**he**_ in particular could not. That might be an option for other men or women but not him. They could deny, delay, or dodge responsibility. But he could not. Not when his decisions would affect the lives of millions and perhaps the entire world itself. He leaned back into his plush seat with a sigh. He could hear the murmurs throughout Air Force One. All of the whispers. And the questions that was on everyone's mind. Everyone glanced at him and then quickly looked away. They were wondering if he could handle this. More than a few had some doubts about him.

_He wasn't Presidential,_ his critics had protested. He had no experience, no proven record of leadership. No formal military service or even training. He was not a politician, a legislator, a lawyer, or a savvy public relations expert. _'The Accidental President'_ one witty pundit had dubbed him.

And they were right.

More than that, _**he**_ felt it too. He _**was**_ a fraud. A fake. He had never asked for this. He really hadn't. Snapper closed his eyes as his mind whirled back to how this whole gigantic practical joke on him had begun.

It just seemed like yesterday that Snapper was merely the Deputy Secretary of Education. Then Second Impact. And most of Washington D.C. got hit by a series of tsunamis which left it a couple of feet underwater.

The sitting President, most of Congress, and a good deal of the functioning government had been killed in the disaster. Including Snapper's former boss, the Secretary of Education.

Snapper had just been settling into his unexpected promotion when he received a summons from the former Vice President who had been out of town and had ascended to the Presidency.

Actually, he hadn't had the wit or ability to refuse the dozen or so Secret Service Agents who suddenly descended onto his new office and politely but firmly asked him to come with them. They hadn't _**threatened**_ him or anything, but he got the distinct impression that refusal was not an option.

The new President had welcomed him, shook his hand, spoke in glowing terms of his boss and how his boss had spoke of Snapper in turn, and then walloped him with the 2x4 he had hidden in his back pocket.

Simply put, he needed a new Vice President.

Snapper hadn't even known that the Secretary of Education was even in line for the position of President. Fifteenth actually, but most of the others had been killed in the wake of Second Impact; or in the case of the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of Health and Human Services, both had been ineligible for the job as neither had been born in the United States.

Unlike him.

The former Vice President appealed to his sense of patriotism, his sense of duty, the need for the citizens to know that their government was still functioning, the appeal of political continuity, and had claimed that it was all just temporary.

_Lying bastard,_ Snapper once more mentally cursed the smiling politician for the umpteenth for the past fourteen years and feeling the urge to throttle him. Even if he had to go and dig up the damn corpse to do it.

Of course, the new President probably hadn't foreseen falling ill to one of those new antibiotic-resistant virus strains that had sprung up after Second Impact, much less dying from it.

Five months after accepting the Vice Presidency, a bewildered Snapper Carr had shakily stepped up and had taken his own Oath of Office and with it the Presidency of the United States of America and the task of rebuilding a country and reestablishing a functional government.

It wasn't easy. Civilization had practically collapsed or had collapsed in a few places. A few small despots had cropped up. He was forced to declare martial law and send in military forces to secure certain towns and installations.

It had taken almost five years before Snapper was able to restore the basic infrastructure throughout what remained of the United States. Before he could seat a new Congress and a Supreme Court. Then watch as the illegal military junta of Mexico casting envious eyes on their recovering and more prosperous neighbors, had staged a military invasion. Snapper had been extremely pissed when he found that he couldn't count on any support from the United Nations which apparently viewed that when nations did this sort of thing, it was considered statecraft. Whereas when individuals did it, it was considered armed robbery.

By the time the US military had barely gotten them beaten back; one of the splintered Canadian Governments had taken into their heads to emulate the Mexicans. Snapper shook his head wearily as he wearily sought to recall which one of the three (or was it four now?) separate Canadian Governments it was. All of them were busy proclaiming themselves the one real government and the others were all pretenders.

Snapper hadn't even bothered paying any attention to the reestablished elections taking place during all of this. He had thought that his last act would be to hand this mess off to his successor and wish him good luck as he sprinted off to freedom. Or so he thought.

The general public however had different ideas and had staged a massive write-in campaign of his name on the ballots. Congress had upheld it as it was clearly a demonstration of the general public's intent and desires. And probably more than a little scared of what would happen if they didn't, considering that Snapper had received nearly 95 percent of the total vote.

He was the most popular President since George Washington. Snapper was effectively drafted and decided that he would just have to grin and bear with the whole thing for the rest of the term and then quietly retire. He didn't even bother campaigning for his next term. He had been sure that someone else would be chosen for this. Somebody who actually wanted this damn job. _**Anyone**_ else.

His 'opponent' conceded before the polling was even halfway finished. It was clear that Snapper had managed to win over 80 percent of the vote and incidentally the voter turnout was the highest ever seen in nearly three decades.

The public loved him. He didn't know why. All he did know was that he was cursed. Cursed to never leave. Trapped in a job he didn't want. The only way that the public would ever let him escape would be if he keeled over from a heart attack. _Or,_ he whimsically mused, _if he died from terminal writer's cramp from signing the thousands and thousands of reports. _He snorted._ On second thought, it was much more likely that he would be smothered under the mountains of paperwork. The damn things seemed to multiply like rabbits._

Congress even made some rumbling about overturning the two-term limitations of the Presidency about two years ago due to public outcry that Carr wouldn't be able to be reelected again. It had taken some serious arm twisting and even more blatant threats, but he had managed to squash that little brainstorm. Snapper got down on his knees nightly to thank God for the cowardly (and otherwise useless) politicians he bullied into voting _against_ the measure.

This whole thing reminded him vaguely of an old fairy tale his grandmother had told him about a vain Emperor who had gotten swindled by a couple of con men who proclaimed they had invented a marvelous cloth that was invisible to fools and idiots.

Not wishing to proclaim himself a fool or an idiot, the Emperor had praised these swindlers and ordered himself a fine set of clothes fashioned out of this material and promptly paraded around for all of his citizens to see him in it. Naturally none of the citizens wanted to say that they were idiots or fools either so had all applauded and praised their Emperor's imaginary finery. Until a young child had innocently pointed out that the Emperor was wearing nothing at all.

He was the President of the United States of America. Leader of the Free World. Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces. Proclaimed as the Most Powerful Man in the World. And he felt like that silly old Emperor who was standing out in public in his birthday suit. For nearly fourteen years, Snapper had been waiting and waiting for the young perceptive child to appear and point a finger at him and loudly proclaim, "He's no President!"

At which point everyone would be stunned and horrified and amazed. And then he could go home and hide in his bed and pretend none of this had ever happened. That this had all been one big practical joke the universe had played on him.

So far though, no prepubescent and precocious tykes had bothered to show up and make their marvelous insightful statement. Which meant Snapper was stuck. Or screwed. _It was the same thing really,_ he thought ruefully.

* * *

Lieutenant Maya Ibuki looked up from her work station to orally give her negative report. As it so happened, her eyes wandered towards the armorplast viewport when the one of the fingers of EXO-Frame 01 twitched.

She blinked as her mental processes came to a screeching halt. _Did she imagine that or—_she opened her mouth to say something to Doctor Akagi as the entire hand flexed spasmodically and then violently.

They were the most obdurate of metals. The strongest, the most durable alloys ever forged by man. Resilient. Unyielding. Crafted to form a series of unbreakable restraints in order to safely contain one of the most powerful entities the planet had ever known.

There was a horrible shrieking of metal as EXO-Frame 01 tore itself free, shredding those restraints like tissue paper. It's hands clenched and unclenched themselves and the creature began to rise to it's feet. It brushed aside railings and scaffoldings, swept aside platforms and catwalks. And now the shrieking of twisting and snapping metal was accompanied by human ones as several technicians were sent hurtling through the air.

Belatedly the alarms started whooping and every single panel appeared to be going berserk, flashing scarlet and crimson.

Ritsuko Akagi deep in thought at the problem of getting the giant machine moving, gaped at the sight of EXO-Frame 01 lumbering to it's feet entirely on it's own. _Well,_ part of her mind inanely remarked, _at least we know that it works._ The other part was just plain gibbering.

The head unit raised itself and the optic sensors were burning a bright gold color as they swept back and forth, searching for something and then seemed to fix on some distant point. The optic sensors flickered, changing in hue to a dark, blood red.

And then the EXO-Frame moved, taking one titanic step forward. The single footfall created a small earthquake and rattled even the armorplast window.

It also managed to shatter Ritsuko's momentary shock. She whipped her head around and pointed frantically at Maya, "Deactivate the EXO-Frame! Emergency Override! Cut all of the nerve circuits!" she barked.

Maya whirled to her control panels, her fingers flying over the keyboards.

Ritsuko wasn't waiting though, "BRAINIAC!" she screamed to the ceiling and the built-in audio sensors that were connected to the quantum computer, "Activate Emergency Restraint Foam!"

Ritsuko turned back to the armorplast window and stared out into the Hanger. She heard metal tearing and more screams as the EXO-Frame tore through the jumbled web of interconnecting platforms and catwalks that the technicians used to service, monitor, and repair the EXO-Frame.

Various technicians were scrambling, running, trying to escape, to flee the ponderous moving mountain of metal bearing down on them.

Ritsuko saw one slip and fall over a dozen feet to the concrete floor. He staggered to his feet and stumbled away. Another lost their balance by the hysterical and panicking crowd and went tumbling off and wasn't quite so fortunate.

Ritsuko shuddered as she saw the man land on his head. She didn't hear the snap of the man's neck but the acute angle which it was bent left no doubt in her mind that he was dead. She hoped that he had been lucky and that it had been too quick for him to feel anything.

But her attention was drawn to others. She watched a pair of technicians frantically hugging a catwalk that was dangling in midair, even as she watched, a cable snapped and the already precariously titled catwalk lurched even further off balance.

There was a scream as one of the technicians lost his grip and fell over a hundred feet to the floor with a sickening thud.

The EXO-Frame took another ponderous step accompanied by another brief tremor causing the catwalk to tilt even further.

"Shit!" Ritsuko cursed herself and struck at her control panel. She slapped several buttons as she belatedly activated the Hanger's integrated shock dampeners. _Too little, too late,_ she thought scornfully.

The EXO-Frame took another step although this one was muted as the seismic forces were absorbed, reducing what would have been another tectonic disturbance to a mild vibration.

Cables and various hoses still connected to the EXO-Frame were being stretched to their utmost. Finally one snapped. And another. Now as an added obstacle, the technicians were having the dodge the cables and hoses flailing and cracking around like gigantic whips while others sprayed various chemicals and fluids adding to the chaos.

Panels sprang open all over the interior of the Hanger and a series of high pressure nozzles extended themselves as jets of a thick viscous fluid came gushing out as BRAINIAC activated the last ditch emergency restraint foam.

The liquid goop splashed over the EXO-Frame, pooling onto the floor. Then the polymer strands in the gel reacted. They sensed the presence of oxygen and greedily fed off it, bubbling furiously as it underwent a chemical reaction, changing into a highly rigid foam barrier.

Within a matter of moments, the foam had anchored the malfunctioning mechanoid's feet and were at ankle height and rising steadily to engulf the EXO-Frame's knees.

The liquid polymer foam was yet another technological marvel extracted from Kal El's lifepod. It was an emergency safety device, an anti-crash protection system that functioned much like a high-tech airbag. Stronger than steel yet yielding and cushioning.

The EXO-Frame paused, momentarily stymied. The foam started to tremble and shake. Cracks formed and chunks of foam flew as the EXO-Frame waded forward relentlessly. It was a race between the rushing fluid flowing into the gaps and fractures and new foam layers forming themselves against the unstoppable EXO-Frame.

Maya snapped her head up, her eyes wide with panic and a hint of fear, "The EXO-Frame is rejecting all of my override signals!"

Ritsuko watched helplessly as a group of technicians formed a human chain to haul the still dangling woman to safety from the sagging catwalk. Just in time as the final cable parted and the catwalk plummeted to the concrete floor and shattered. "Do a forced detach of the Solar Batteries! Blow 'em!" she ordered.

_While we still can_, Ritsuko added mentally as she watched as the level of foam had risen to the mechanoid's waist and was still climbing. If they didn't hurry, they wouldn't be able to execute a forced detach the Solar Batteries at all. They'd be smothered in the embrace of the immobilizing foam cocoon along with the EXO-Frame.

Maya pressed her thumb at a security scanner plate. It obediently read her fingerprint and satisfied, the computer unlocked an armored glass panel.

Maya flipped the panel open, exposing the large emergency switch and stabbed it.

A series of bolts responded to the emergency signal, detonating as one, simultaneously separating the gigantic winged flanges mounted to the shoulders of the EXO-Frame from the EXO-Frame itself. A split second later, a series of shaped charges exploded sequentially as well, forcibly blowing the shoulder pods away from the EXO-Frame.

"Solar Batteries Ejected!" Maya called out triumphantly.

Ritsuko winced as one of the Solar Batteries almost casually spun through the air to cleave through a huge section of scaffolding. A group of technicians who had somehow managed to escape death so far were instantly reduced into paste. The other oversized shoulder pod impacted against one of the walls, rebounding and landed on a bed of foam harmlessly.

"EXO-Frame is on Internal Battery!" Maya reported as her screens switched to a graphic chart. A glowing green bar was draining itself rapidly downward.

"Power levels?"

"At 43 percent and falling!" Maya reported, her eyes locked on her displays, she rapidly typed in a few commands, reconfiguring the display to a digital counter that was rapidly scrolling itself to zero. "One minute until power depletion!"

Slowly, ever so slowly, the mechanoid's flailing limbs began to slow like a toy winding itself down until they finally ground to a halt. The radiant pentagonal chest shield flickered and faded. Illuminated capacitor panels grew dim. Finally only the glowing optic sensors remained. And they too faded in and out unsteadily until unwillingly, stubbornly, defiantly, the last crimson spark guttered out.

"Internal Battery at Zero Charge!" Maya confirmed, "Shut down!" she cried out and then professionalism reasserted itself and in a more normal tone of voice reported, "EXO-Frame is shutting down."

Ritsuko Akagi sank into her padded seat and took a deep shuddering breath. "Holy shit…" she muttered, "…what the Hell was THAT all about?"

* * *

Shinji struggled to slow down his heart to keep it from bursting from his chest. After seeing a giant monster fighting the JSSDF, he had nearly gotten run over by a crazy woman in a sports car.

Crazy as in irrational. After cussing him out, her attitude abruptly did a 180 and she began fawning over him and asking if he was alright and did he want anything as she hustled him into the passenger seat and personally did his seat belt for him as if he was a five year old.

Shinji idly wondered if the JSSDF were so hard up for personnel that they lowered their screening procedures as the uniformed woman shut her door and turned the ignition key. His eye flicked to her nametag which read KATSURAGI.

Then she slammed her foot on the accelerator and his body was abruptly pressed into the padding of his seat as the car took off like a rocket. "Err … Miss?" he gasped out.

The woman turned and gave him a wide smile that looked almost painful, "Oh, call me Misato!" she said brightly.

"Uh … alright, Misato," Shinji said tentatively, "If you could just drop me off at the next train station I'd appreciate—"

"Oh no, I suppose to take you to Tokyo-3 Shinji," Misato interrupted cheerfully. _Despite a bit of a rough start, things were going rather smoothly, _she thought to herself.

* * *

_Just once,_ Matsuda mentally cursed, _just once, could things possibly go smoothly?_

His plaintive address went unanswered however as he strode into the EXO-Frame Hanger Command and Information Center. Over a dozen conversations were taking place. All at high volume. Dozens of scientists and technicians and even a scattering of military personnel were all arguing and mainly pointing fingers at each other like a couple of kids trying to properly assign blame to somebody else.

His scowl deepened and he felt his fists tightening even further. He wasn't having this … this petty crap. "ENOUGH!" he roared in a hoarse bellow.

Everyone in the CIC froze and turned to look at him. Apparently the expression on his face was sufficient to cow everyone into submission. He snapped out a single finger to point out Ritsuko Akagi, "What's going on?" he demanded.

* * *

The Blackhawks arced through the air and came roaring back to lash out at Sachiel again.

Lieutenant Ken Kenichi studied his tactical readouts with care. All of the meters were redlined but so far everything was alright. Besides he knew the engineers who wrote the safety margins tended to be a bit conservative in their math. It looked like they had another full power shot remaining so they had better make it count.

"Line us up for another shot Sanada," he said calmly. His pilot, Reiko Sanada didn't even turn in her seat, "Roger."

The targeting reticule burned green and Ken stabbed the fire button.

He was unaware of it but a small microscopic crack in the wielding of one of the plasma prefire chambers had formed. Under normal operating procedures, the energetic plasma still would have been contained safely thanks to the magnetic bottle, a containment field that reinforced the integrity of the prefire chamber.

But these were not normal operating procedures.

At the moment, the extreme heat from overloading the plasma emitters had overwhelmed one of the magnetic capacitors in the containment ring and caused it to fail.

The magnetic bottle fluctuated momentarily at the other magnetic capacitors struggled to take on the additional load of their malfunctioning companion. And the mass of high-energy plasma found the crack.

What happened next was catastrophic.

It blew out of the prefire chamber like a blowtorch from Hell.

Kenichi gasped as alert sirens started screeching and clamoring a split second before the breeched chamber exploded outward, vomiting forth the mass of plasma.

He felt a wave of intense heat boiling outward. He saw a roiling, out of control mass of flames erupting outward. He opened his mouth to scream … but there was no time.

* * *

A second earlier, they had ten aerodynes flying in formation. A second later however, they had nine.

The other aerodynes fluttered and shook as the shockwave blast washed over them. Goro whipped his head around, "What the Hell!" he cursed and blinked momentarily as he saw the aerodynes in formation and quickly counted them.

Then he quickly recounted again just in case he had made a mistake.

He hadn't.

"What happened?" he demanded a split second later.

A white faced Sora looked up from her screens, "Plasma breech. It happened too fast for anything else."

* * *

Air Marshal Luo Zhang strode into CIC as he mentally composed his successful report that Captain Katsuragi had located Shinji Ikari and they were presently en route to Fortress 1. It would appear that things were finally going their way for once. Then he saw Matsuda.

Over the years they had served alongside one another, Zhang had seen Matsuda in various moods. But he had only rarely had ever seen him as coldly furious as he was now.

The JSSDF General was shaking. His trembling was not one of fear, or terror, or panic, or even fright. It was of someone who exercising extreme and enormous control over volcanic fury. Like Krakatoa intensity.

"I have over a dozen dead people, three dozen more injured and you don't KNOW what happened?" Matsuda barked in a furious, tautly controlled tone of voice as a vein throbbed menacingly in his temple, "What the Hell was Rei doing Akagi? Can't she control—"

"She wasn't controlling it." Ritsuko snapped.

"She's the Pilot!" Matsuda broke in, his hands twisted together as though strangling something … or someone, "She has a direct physical and mental interface with that oversized tin can, don't tell me she—"

"It would be a bit difficult for her," Ritusko interrupted, "BECAUSE SHE WASN'T IN IT!" she screamed the last five words at the top of her lungs and slammed her clipboard down on a table, cracking it in half.

* * *

Shinji slowly unclenched his death grip on the dashboard with great reluctance. The road was no longer twisting and looping around but was a gradual upward winding curve. Which meant that the ride had smoothed out considerably so he no longer feared for his life every tire screeching second.

He glanced at his companion and wannabe NASCAR driver who was replacing her cell phone in an inner pocket. "So you work with my mother Miss Misato?" he asked curiously.

"Sort of. You might say, I work for her." the woman dressed in a blue military style uniform confirmed.

"So exactly what does this JSA group do?" Shinji asked.

Misato glanced sidewise at him, a look of surprise on her face. "You mean you don't know what your mom does?"

Shinji scowled and looked away, "Not really. She told me that it was government work and was top secret. I just know she thinks it's real important stuff." More important than me, he left unsaid.

"Well, yeah, it is." Misato said lamely feeling like she was tiptoeing through a potential land mine field.

"By the way," Shinji paused thoughtfully, "what the heck was that thing back there?" he asked, jerking a thumb over his shoulder towards Sachiel.

Misato coughed, "That's uh … classified." she said and then after a moment, she grinned and waggled her eyebrows playfully, "I could tell you, but then …" she paused dramatically, "I'd have to kill you."

Shinji raised a skeptical eyebrow. "You don't know either do you."

Misato drew back offended, "Of course I do!" she protested, "That's a …" she suddenly had a mental image of a scowling Marshal Zhang upon hearing her release classified information to a civilian, "uh … a big … big thingie." she finished lamely.

"Huh. Thingie. Is that a technical term?" Shinji asked sarcastically.

Misato twitched as she fought to keep a pleasant expression on her face. _Little snot,_ she mentally snorted as she concentrated on the road ahead of them.

* * *

Matsuda rocked back on his heels. "Explain that," he ordered coldly as a tic jumped at the corner of his mouth.

Ritsuko took a deep breath and drew out a cigarette and flicked a lighter. Zhang twitched at the sudden burst of flame and said sharply, "No smoking Doctor," he reprimanded, pointing at a NO SMOKING sign clearly posted nearby.

Ritsuko gave him a dirty look and ground her cigarette out. "After the last activation attempt, Rei's neurological patterns were pretty erratic so we took her out of the Control Sphere," she reported, "We were in the middle of a full programming purge of the OS and a reboot when the EXO-Frame activated itself and went berserk. We tried to regain control but it rejected all of our override signals. We had to resort to the restraint foam and blow off the solar batteries to contain it."

Matsuda turned pasty white, his anger visibly draining away. "That's impossible," he protested feebly.

Ritsuko gave him a malicious grin at his discomfort. "Tell me about it," she drawled.

Matsuda stared, "But the EXO-Frame CAN'T activate itself without a Pilot! How the Hell—"

Yui spoke up, "It's Shinji."

Everyone turned to face her. Yui then continued, "I've been looking over the scans," she held up a wad of printouts, "and a split second before EXO-Frame 01 went berserk, the monitors picked up a brainwave spike," she held up the graph of a single straight line that abruptly turned into a series of jagged peaks and dips.

"A very strong one too," Ritsuko remarked with narrowed eyes as she studied the graph.

Zhang frowned, "That doesn't make sense. None of the other EXO-Frames have ever responded to the Pilots outside of the Control Spheres! None! Not Ayanami, Langley, or Jordan were ever—"

Yui shook her head and interrupted, "But none of the others were EXO-Frame 01."

Matsuda looked confused, "But it's never reacted in this way before either—"

Yui shrugged, "And Shinji has never been in such close proximity to EXO-Frame 01 before either. And I understand that he's in close proximity to the XT as well so there might be some understandable panic. If I'm reading this right, he had a bad shock. I think he was scared. Scared out of his mind. And the EXO-Frame reacted to that fear."

Zhang studied Yui for a long moment, showing curiosity on his normally impassive features. "And the EXO-Frame was trying to … protect him?" he said slowly.

"Oh my God," Matsuda said. He shook his head and slowly walked over to the armorplast window and leaned against it heavily. He stared out into the still foamed hanger.

Already an army of workers were frantically busy. Loops of cable were being wrapped around one of the solar batteries as a temporary sling to right it even as another crane was busy lifting the other large winged flange and a squad of technicians were swarming over it, scrutinizing it for possible damage.

Some were restringing cables and lines. Sparks flew as others cut bent and twisted metal while replacement equipment, even new scaffolding and catwalks and platforms were being hauled into place.

More were spraying the foam with a compound that broke down the polymers into a liquid sludge that was draining out from the built-in ducts.

Others were snaking hoses that were alternatively spraying water to wash the remnants of the sludge off the various surfaces or vacuuming up the waste.

It was amazing. It was impressive. At the frenetic pace they were working, it appeared that a good one-third of the cleanup and repairs were already mostly done. And the steady pace continued.

And above them all towered the gigantic EXO-Frame 01. It was frozen, motionless. Whenever Matsuda had seen it before, it wasn't difficult to imagine it as merely sleeping. Slumbering peacefully.

But not now. Not frozen in mid-stride, braced in a wary cat-like stance, balanced on it's toes, ready to spring forward. Not with it's fingers frozen, outstretched like claws as they sought to rip through the foamy barricade imprisoning it.

Not now.

Not ever.

It was not sleeping. Staring at this stationary thing, Matsuda got the disturbing feeling that it was merely quiescent. Like a predator who was merely feigning sleep and was perfectly aware of what everything that was happening around it. Why exert itself when it's prey could do the job for it and wander into it's grip?

He stared at the dark optic sensors. He peered at them trying to see past them and what lay beneath. Into the EXO-Frame itself. He stared at it and the thing looked blankly back at him.

He shuddered as he stared at this thing that they had created. At this mechanical monstrosity. They had been so sure, so confident, so smug that they were the ones in control. That they were such marvelous geniuses at having harnessed this beast. Only now he found out that their control was really a tenuous thing. More the product of wishful thinking than reality.

He was forcibly reminded that just because you were successful in putting a collar around a wild animal didn't mean that the animal was tamed. Eventually it would figure out a way around the tether. Around the leash and the collar and break free.

"What the Hell did you build Yui?" he asked softly.

Yui Ikari was silent for a long moment, her gaze pensive and remote. Finally she looked up. "Our last and best hope for victory. But I'd be lying if I said I totally understood just what we created ourselves."

Standing in a quiet corner, almost unnoticed and forgotten, Professor Fuyutsuki spoke for the first time. In a soft voice he recited solemnly, _" 'How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe, or how delineate the wretch whom with such infinite pains and care I had endeavored to form?' "_

Maya Ibuki looked at him blankly. "Is that a quote or something Professor?" she asked.

Ritsuko looked pained. "Yes. By a 19th Century English author by the name of Shelley."

"Really? What did he write?" Ibuki asked innocently.

"_She._ Shelley was a woman," Ritsuko corrected absently. "And most of her works are largely forgotten. Except for one. She called it ... _'The Modern Prometheus'_._"_ Ritsuko paused for a moment before continuing; "Everyone else though remembers it simply as _'Frankenstein'."_

* * *

**A/N: **Just for trivia sake, the Firestorm-Class Hoverjets owe their namesake from a DC comic hero. I thought it would be fun to pepper the storyline with bits and pieces of the actual DC Universe.

Oh and before anyone asks, Snapper Carr has indeed been President for close to fourteen years. And I do know that this is technically impossible. Or illegal.

Simply put, the United States Government was in a State of Emergency for the first five, six years after Second Impact and Snapper was never officially confirmed. He would probably be technically considered the 'Acting President' or filling in as the Vice President.

It took that long to reestablish a working government and then he got involved in a war with Mexico and then Canada before Congress got around to declaring the State of Emergency over. By that time, he got officially voted in twice and is now on his second and final term as President. This is actually his last year. Of course, knowing Snapper's luck, Congress will probably delay elections again with the XTs so he might not be able to leave just yet!

And many apologies to Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, authoress of _"The Modern Prometheus"_ whom I humbly borrowed from her both the title and a brief quotation. And as always, much thanks to my prereader and editor Arthur Hansen without whom this chapter would not have been quite as good.


	15. Heaven's Fire

**DC Evangelion**

**Chapter 15:** _Heaven's Fire_

* * *

Shinji was stuck. He was curled as tight as he could manage as Misato leaned over him, peering through a pair of electrobinoculars and adjusted the scope settings. She studied the digitally enhanced view and zoomed in as the Blackhawks circle Sachiel. Every now and then one would unleash a blazing plasma energized laser stream but as Misato watched, the streams were tapering off. Fewer and fewer of the aircrafts were shooting now.

She lowered the electrobinoculars with a frown. "Hang on," she said, "I'm going to pull over for a second." She said as she left the road and went onto the shoulder. She stopped the car and whipped the electrobinoculars back up to her face to study the Blackhawks' formation.

"What's happening?" Shinji asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.

"I'm not sure…" Misato said as she watched as the Blackhawks suddenly accelerated away from the enormous XT. _Wait a second—! _she yanked the binoculars away, _Pale Horseman?_ She flung the binoculars away and grabbed Shinji, forcing him into a crouch. "Take cover!" she barked as the entire world seemed to turn white.

* * *

**Monitor Womb  
Fortress-1  
_Tokyo-3_**_**, Japan****  
**_

"Execute!" one of the JSSDF Generals cried out triumphantly.

Matsuda watched impassively as the several story high holographic video display showing the gigantic XT suddenly flashed white and dissolved into howling static.

"Secondary camera arrays now!" another General ordered.

Instantly the view of static switched to a more distant viewpoint. Matsuda shuddered at the horrible sight.

It was a rapidly expanding sphere of white light that doubled, tripled, and quadrupled in size even as a pillar of intense glowing energy shot upward from the center of the growing mass like a hideous sort of blooming flower.

The view suddenly blinked and wavered crazily, lines of static crackled throughout the picture. "Registering massive electromagnetic pulse!" Makoto Hyuuga called out, studying his instrumentation even as the cameras finally died, leaving the screen a hash of flickering white snow. He did not even look upward, "Secondary camera arrays are down," he reported unnecessarily.

One of the JSSDF Generals looked irritated, "I thought these new monitor cameras were hardened against EMP."

"Hardened. Not invulnerable. They're intact. But they have to reboot their systems. They could maintain functioning even through a regular nuclear detonation but not an N2. Much too potent EMP spike," the other General explained a trifle bit smugly.

"That's the power of our N2 Mines gentlemen," the third General said, able to contort himself so he could pat himself on the back self-importantly. He snapped his fingers, "With our new N2 Mines, we no longer need the EXO-Frames. We've rendered those overgrown tinkertoys obsolete," he finished with a haughty air.

It took over thirty years of military discipline to force down Matsuda's scream as his hands clenched into tightly balled fists. He narrowed his eyes into flinty slits of fury as he glared at the trio of pompous Generals. _What about Hiroshima?_ he asked bitterly. _What about Nagasaki?_

Japan had the dubious honor of being the first country in the world to suffer the horrors of nuclear war.

Matsuda himself had been only a teenager when he had visited the rebuilt city of Hiroshima for the first time on a school trip.

He remembered seeing the memorials, the statues, and the entire city and had come away with a disturbed feeling of horror. Matsuda had never been a very religious sort of person but standing there in Hiroshima, he could not help but feel the ghosts of all those countless civilians surrounding him, enveloping him, begging him. _Never again,_ their voices whispered. _Never again._

He had joined the predecessor to the JSSDF; the Japanese Self Defense Forces filled with that purpose. To protect and defend his country and his people from that sort of horror. He glared at his superior officers and felt the fingernails digging sharply into his palms. He had spent over thirty years in uniform, determined to avoid this. To prevent this sort of thing from happening ever again. A nuclear weapon being detonated in the heart of his homeland. And in all of his nightmarish scenarios; which ranged from terrorists, to deranged world leaders, to another World War ... he never ever imagined that they would be doing it to themselves. It made him sick.

_You just ignited a fucking nuclear bomb on your own goddamn country,_ he thought with a deep sense of revulsion, _and you're proud of that?_

He turned away, barely registering Hyuuga's tense voice, "Approaching shock wave!"

The entire Fortress trembled and quivered as though a great hand had suddenly seized them and violently shaken them for a moment. Lights blinked and flickered. Holographic screens fuzzed and twitched in midair momentarily before resolving into their perfect transparent clarity once more. Shock absorbers whined and impact dissipation coils groaned as they shouldered the earthshaking tremors and then slowly reset themselves.

* * *

Halfway across the world, deep beneath the Mojave Desert, layered and protected by the heaviest, densest metals ever forged by mankind, dug nearly four miles beneath the surface of the planet was one of the greatest strongholds for humanity. This was Fortress-3.

Tied into a vast array of tasked satellites, radar installations, and other sensor platforms, it all filtered into the Monitor Womb which the workers informally called the Operations Area or OA.

OA was usually busy; under normal conditions they constantly maintained a scanning and monitoring watch over an entire cone of space projecting outward from Fortress-3.

This was the reason for the wide geographical locations for each of the Fortresses. When each was complete and on-line, they would tirelessly keep a watchful eye for possible extraterrestrial activity and incursions from all possible points.

But not today. Today, they practically ignored their designated sector and disregarded the automated probes and sensor sweeps. Instead their focus was on a series of secondary repeater screens and plots as they watched the drama unfolding half a world away.

Their regular sensor platforms were retasked, shifted from their normal viewpoints to another far more distant one. Bearing towards the Pacific where OA nervously monitored the brewing situation. Their readings were much more erratic and badly degraded as Fortress-3 was never really designed to be overseeing another Fortress' territory.

One of the monitoring technicians, a female lieutenant started as her screen registered a massive infrared and electromagnetic signature. It was in fact, almost impossible to miss.

"Detecting massive electromagnetic pulse!" she announced. It was followed almost a second later as the entire Monitor Womb flickered. Holographic displays fuzzed momentarily. Then slowly, almost unwillingly, the various displays returned.

A middle aged blonde Army Colonel snapped around to look at her, "Readings!" he barked.

She felt a trickle of sweat beading down her suddenly pounding temples as she examined her screens as they refocused and reprocessed sensor data, "Enormous fluctuations in the EM wavebands, cycling through the gigahertz to the megahertz ranges, starting to cycle downwards, transitioning through the medium broadband spectrums. Disruptive effects reported throughout the Asian Pacific Rim, centered in Japan, Kanto Region."

"Holy God! That was a N2!" another officer, a Major blurted out, "They detonated a N2! What the Hell is the JSSDF doing?"

"Steady there!" the Colonel snapped. He glanced downward at his own monitors and looked at the female monitor tech intently, "Was it an N2?" he asked quietly.

She nodded choppily. "The EMP spike is distinctive. That was definitely an N2 detonation," she reported firmly, "now registering tectonic and seismic upheavals on my monitors."

The successor to the Atomic Bomb, the N2 was considered to be an improved version; a Second Generation Nuclear Weapon.

The N2 surpassed the original destruction yield of the old fashioned nukes. It unleashed a massive and incredibly powerful explosive detonation but was "safer". One of the hazards of the original nuclear bomb was that it accompanied by radioactive fallout that severely contaminated the surrounding area afterwards. The N2 however did not. The synthetic radioactive core that was the heart of the N2 became rapidly inert and thus radioactive contamination was not a factor.

But one hazard that was still unavoidable was the EMP.

The EMP or electromagnetic pulse was in effect, a surge of electromagnetic waves that would overload or burn out any electronics or circuitry or electrical devices. It accompanied all large scale nuclear detonations including the N2. However the synthetic radioactive core used by the N2 resulted in an EMP that was not only hideously powerful but incredibly wide ranged.

Despite the distances between the Japan, Fortress-3 was still on the very fringes of the EMP wave and were _still_ detecting the disruptive effects.

Effectively, a singular N2 could cripple a nation's electronics and telecommunications, reducing them back to the Stone Age.

Theoretical computer simulations had demonstrated that successive detonations of N2 devices in close proximity to each other could exponentially propagate the effective range of the EMP … even augmenting the disruptive effects to the point where even electronics that were specifically designed to withstand the electromagnetic shockwaves were no longer infallible.

Even more troubling, some sims had predicted that such an augmented EMP would not dissipate very rapidly. That it might take _**years**_ to fully dissipate. Meaning the entire world would be permanently thrown back into the Dark Ages. The chaos and anarchy that would follow that didn't even bear thinking about. Much less if humanity would even be able to rebuild itself back up afterwards.

For this explicit reason, the United Nations had instituted a ban on all N2 devices as a precautionary measure and would only permit them to be used under their specific guidelines and permission.

And as far as the United States knew, no such permission had even been _hinted_ at. Which meant the N2 Ban had just been violated. The JSSDF weren't just flirting with possible disaster with the XT ... they were outright courting another World War.

Colonel Alan Scott's face tightened as he gazed down at his readouts. Underneath the console, his hand tightened into a balled fist hidden to his officers. Quietly but urgently he spoke, "Get me the President."

* * *

Misato Katsuragi shook her ringing head. The first thing she noticed was that the entire world was askew. She vaguely remembered the entire car flipping over several times. The second thing she noticed was that she was sitting completely inverted. And that she really needed to clean the floor of her car more often.

She looked around for her unwilling charge. "Hey Shinji! You alive?" she called out.

"Mymouizfllufdzt." Shinji mumbled.

"What?"

There was the sound of spitting and coughing. "I said, my mouth is full of dirt," Shinji said, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

"Quit whining. A little dirt never killed anyone."

"Judging by the condition of your car, I'd have to agree otherwise you'd have succumbed years ago." Shinji retorted.

Misato huffed and began working at her belt buckle. _Smartass,_ she thought sourly. The latch unsnapped itself a split second before she abruptly remembered about gravity and slammed headfirst into the car's roof that was now resting on the ground.

"%$##%!"

As Misato Katsuragi continued to swear, she and Shinji failed to notice the rotund metal body of the servitor droid lying nearby. It's head module tilted upwards slightly and flickered momentarily. A pair of lights blinked and a series of ones and zeroes rapidly scrolled across the droid's optic sensors. And paused. New words scrolled across the optic sensors.

IMPROPER SHUT DOWN.

SYSTEM CRASH.

DETECTING DAMAGE TO HARDDRIVE.

REBOOTING OPERATING SYSTEMS.

PLEASE WAIT...

Those last two words continued to flash unseen and unnoticed.

* * *

**Secured Hologram Projection Conference Center  
Operations Area  
Fortress-3**_**  
****Las Vegas, Nevada, United States**_

_It wasn't the standing still that was the worst,_ Snapper Carr decided, _it was the smell from the ozone gas from the multiple laser beam projectors._

Green beams of light flashed as they swept over him, measuring his body dimensions, mapping his contours, examining his shape. He reached up and loosened the knot of his tie slightly.

Standing beside him, a stone faced General Frank Rock coughed slightly. "Try to hold as still as possible, sir. It'll speed up the image processing," he said diffidently.

The network of lasers mindlessly continued their work as they continued to crisscross over their bodies in a grid pattern even as the computers churned away using the data acquired from the mapping lasers to construct a three-dimensional computer image of Carr and Rock.

Snapper interrupted, "Are you sure about the JSSDF detonating an N2 General? I mean, it wasn't some sort of mistake or faulty sensor right?" he asked, nervously running a hand through his hair.

"Positive," Rock said tersely as he gave a quick glance over the younger man's clothing with a twinge of disdain at his so-called superior. The sports coat was rumbled looking and his shirt had a ketchup stain that he had apparently blotted with his tie and his socks didn't even match.

Rock ground his teeth silently. _This is the President of the United States,_ he thought to himself acidly. _He looks like a damn kid who didn't know how to dress himself properly. George Washington would be spinning in his grave,_ he thought darkly. In contrast, Rock himself looked like he had just stepped off a recruiting poster. His uniform was spotless, the metal buttons gleamed and the four stars on his shoulder boards still sparkled brilliantly. The creases looked freshly ironed and sharp enough to cut steel.

Thousands of miles away across an entire ocean, in a similar chamber to this one; a holographic projector was flaring to life, light photons spun and danced as they formed a holo-image of Snapper Carr.

Finished with their task, the brilliantly glowing lasers dimmed to near invisibility as they shifted to their new function, tracking his movements and updating his holographic image.

Almost simultaneously, the entire chamber darkened and a series of translucent figures sprang into existence. For a split second, Snapper felt a shiver of supernatural dread at the appearance of such ghostly apparitions but he dismissed them with a quick head shake. Although the new holo-form projections were a relatively new technology, he had seen it in action too often to get the jitters over them.

He heard a disembodied voice echoing throughout the chamber, announcing his appearance, _"Lucas Carr, President of the United States."_

The holographic "ghosts" all turned in his direction. "Good of you to join us Mister President," a diminutive figure dressed in a sari said inclining her head slightly, "Welcome to the United Nations Security Council."

Snapper Carr felt himself gulp reflexively as he looked at the holographic images of no less than eight heads of states and elected representatives of the most powerful nations that had survived the holocaust of Second Impact. Together they comprised the new Security Council of the United Nations.

He nodded, "Thank you Chairwoman Desai," he said and winced hearing his voice crack midway through the routine greeting. He cleared his throat and glanced around at the other holograms, "Ladies and gentlemen, we have a situation in Japan. General Rock has informed me that the JSSDF has unilaterally detonated an N2 bomb."

Frank Rock narrowed his eyes fractionally as he saw various members of the Security Council exchange looks. Something was wrong here. They weren't alarmed or even surprised.

Snapper Carr paused dramatically, "The N2 Ban has just been violated," he concluded and looked around.

The slender Indian Prime Minister paused, "That is not entirely correct President Carr."

"I beg your pardon Madam Prime Minister," Frank Rock rumbled, "but Fortress-3 has confirmed the readings. They are rather distinctive."

"True." Prime Minister Arani Desai confirmed, "But the N2 Ban was not violated. The Security Council had already authorized the JSSDF to deploy a N2 bomb."

"What!" Snapper Carr blurted out, his eyes widening in shock. He shot a look at Rock who held himself carefully still. Carr's mouth opened and closed a few times, clearly having lost the power of speech momentarily even as his eyes flew around the entire room in bewilderment. "But—I never—you—" he sputtered and then gritted his teeth, "Do you mean to tell me that you authorized this—without even _**informing**_ us?" Carr demanded, anger darkening his voice for the first time.

The Indian Prime Minister folded her hands together, "The urgency of the situation required us to expedite the approval for the Pale Horseman Tactical Scenario. It was always a considered response in the event of a subsequent XT incursion as you know," she reminded him gently.

Snapper was in no mood to be handled. Even gently. "But to act unilaterally without even informing the United States was not—"

"That was regrettable Herr Carr," a heavily German accented voice interrupted, "but we did need to act quickly to save lives. That was the important part. And to be honest, we already had a majority vote of the rest of the Security Council," Chancellor von Mannheim of Germany explained spreading his hands to include the other holographic ghosts surrounding them. "Even if you had vetoed the motion, it still would have carried through. You simply were unable to participate in the vote as it were."

Carr was staring dismayed at the other holograms who were nodding agreement with von Mannheim.

Rock felt a scowl creasing his features as he studied the various holographic heads of state.

The United States of America had been the last of the global superpowers of the twentieth century. And many of the other nations and countries had greatly resented the US' position and power.

Once upon a time, the United Nations had been a relatively ineffective agency that had been hamstrung with little or no authority, regulated and bound by bureaucracy and rulings by a badly divided membership.

In the wake of Second Impact however, the UN had been forced as a matter of mere survival to reorganize itself into a more efficient and effective governing force. One of their most unexpected moves had been to relocate their central headquarters from New York City to Paris, France.

As various nations and their governments had collapsed, the UN had stepped in to assume broader authority and more power. It had nationalized economies, absorbed and consolidated the various military forces, established social and welfare programs and had grown in size and prestige until it was a World Government in all but name. And incidentally boasted the largest and most powerful military force on the planet. Only a handful of nations such as Japan and the United States still retained any sizable military forces of their own.

But at the same time, Rock had sensed a growing sense of arrogance in the United Nations. The new UN had grown far too accustomed to their unchallenged authority and had been throwing their weight around more and more forcefully. A number of his brother officers in their commands had noted more than once that they were expected to be subordinate to the UN's own forces, even in the United States' borders.

And there were other more disturbing rumblings.

The United States had been marginalized in the New World Order as the UN saw themselves as the new superpower and were loath to permit any challengers to their presumed authority, even if it meant slapping down the upstart United States.

Rock glanced at his curiously shrunken President who looked lost and alone as he looked around the room for support and finding none. _He was too weak,_ Rock realized bleakly again for the umpteenth time. _How had it come to this?_ Rock wondered.

No one answered his plea.

* * *

Lorenz Keele smiled cruelly as he watched a small hologram that was currently displaying the real-time images of the United Nations' inner meeting chambers and private sanctum as the entire drama played itself out.

He wondered just how those deluded fools would react if they knew how much of their security systems were completely and thoroughly compromised by SEELE.

He wondered if anyone really appreciated just how truly insidious computers were. _Probably not,_ he sneered. When he had first seen the Nazis and their 'tabulating machines' he had been appalled. He didn't give a damn just how easier they supposed made things. _Easier. Hah!_ he snorted to himself.

Anyone with a quarter brain should understand just how dangerous technology really was. And computers most of all. The problem with computers was that they were so stupid really. Yes, they were faster and more complex than human beings. But they didn't think. They didn't comprehend. They didn't _**understand**_. And because of that failing, they were prone to errors. To making mistakes. And yet everyone seemed to believe they were so bloody infallible.

And yet, all it took was a few negligent pushing of a few buttons and he had complete and total access to the entirety of the United Nations' secret database and mainframe. He had all of their security ciphers, their lockdown procedures, even authorization codes.

If he wanted to, he could have the computer trigger one of their own N2's in their armory to detonate. And the computer wouldn't give a second thought and do it because he _**had**_ the proper authorization codes.

And the UN didn't even know that their own security was compromised because their own computers didn't tell them.

It vaguely amused him to manipulate technology like this. Almost as much as manipulating these so called governing bodies. It was pitiful really. _Humans and human nature never really changes,_ he thought wryly as he watched the impotent President of the United States. Shame really. It had been so useful to have an incompetent blessed with staggering and such woeful ignorance of the reality of backroom dealing and high level political exchange. _The democratic process,_ he bit back a snigger, _was so easy to subvert really._

It would be a tremendous loss of manpower and materials but Keele was confident that Sachiel could be contained. He would have to write off Japan, but sometimes sacrifices just have to be made. He touched a few touch panels and nodded to himself. He did not have access to a BRAINIAC-Class computer but the computer models predicted that the total loss of Fortress-1, their complement of their EXO-Frames, and the core of the JSA would cause the panic stricken United Nations to dismantle the thoroughly discredited JSA Program. Which would allow SEELE to step right in and assume control with their own puppet organization NERV into place.

He had the Lance. He had Lilith. He had the Dead Sea Scrolls. And very soon, he would have the JSA too. And after that ... well, he would have everything else too.

* * *

**Monitor Womb  
Fortress-1**_**  
Tokyo-3, Japan**_

The hundred-foot tall holographic display screen was filled with nothing but snowy static and fuzzy bands of interference.

The oldest of the JSSDF Generals, his hair white and thinning turned from his intense discussion with his associates to demand an update. "Target status?" he barked.

Makoto Hyuuga studied his monitor boards and screens intently and shook his head, "We're unable to confirm due to EMP interference."

The youngest of the three Generals scoffed, "It must be finished. You saw the size of that explosion."

BRAINIAC cut into the discussion, "Reboot completed. Running diagnostics. Diagnostics complete. Sensors reinitializing."

Hyuuga grinned. "Sensors restored," he confirmed.

The holographic screened blanked momentarily. Numbers and symbology appeared, dancing across the screens. A grid pattern formed a topographical display. The screen flashed as it updated itself and new data become available. The screen flashed again as more details filled in and appeared. The screen flashed again. And again.

The topographical contours updated themselves as in the middle of the once relatively flat surface suddenly showed a gigantic crater.

The screen flashed as the outlines of the crater became clearer and more distinct.

Suddenly a red light blinked on and off at the very center of the crater.

Hyuuga felt his shoulders twitch and despite himself, heard the alarm in his voice as he declared, "Energy reading!"

The red light flashes alarmingly as a gigantic jagged reddish spike appears.

"Detecting a significant energy reaction at the epicenter of the N2 explosion," BRAINIAC remarked mildly, "Tentatively identified as Pattern Blue."

"It can't be!" the youngest General screams as he leaps to his feet.

"Visual monitor restored." BRAINIAC continues, undisturbed.

The holographic screen switches immediately to a visual display. For a second, only clouds of smoke is visible. And then, a dark shape becomes visible through the haze. "Magnifying and digitally enhancing image." BRAINIAC reported.

The screen fuzzed momentarily as it enlarged itself and then again as more detail was filled in. The blurry image wavered and then the picture froze and resolved itself into crisp clarity which was accompanied by gasps and startled cries and strangled curses as the nightmarish apparition of Sachiel appeared standing in the midst of the firestorm. Billowing clouds of ash and smoke drifted across the screen. Slowly, one by the one, the remaining Generals slowly rose shakily to their collective feet as they stared at the Third Angel, alive and intact.

"It's not possible..." one of them hisses and then falls back into his chair, "That was our last resort," he mutters wide eyed.

"No effect ... I can't believe it," the oldest of them says as he stumbles backwards on trembling legs to fall heavily in his seat.

"It's a goddamn demon!" the last General screams in protest as he hammers a fist on the tabletop.

Makoto Hyuuga pulled off his headset and glanced over his shoulder at the triumvirate of dazed Generals.

His mouth felt dry. He wanted to ask for orders. He wanted to. But was afraid to.

Because he had a feeling that if he did, he would find out that they didn't have any to give.

He gulped convulsively and replaced his headset and returned his attention to his tactical readouts. And like so many young military officers over the centuries of organized warfare, quietly prayed that his superiors really did know what they were doing.

* * *

**Fortress-2  
**_**Ore Mountains, Germany**_

The lights dimmed and there was an audible thrumming as the circulated air lowered in temperature several degrees. Then cones of colored lights flared in existence, sweeping back and forth before merging together. Holographic resolution was superior in slightly lower than normal temperatures and without any dust motes floating in midair to distort the patterns of light hence the various air vents designed to generate a constant flow of cool air. In smaller holograms it was usually not necessary but the stupendously huge tri-dimensional holographic tank needed such superb precision and high tolerances of exactness.

The hundred foot tall projection blurred and wavered slightly as portions of the display fuzzed out while the colors bleed and ran in others, turning the ordinarily crystal clear image into hazy disarray.

Professor Jason "Jay" Garrick cursed and with a balled up fist gave the computer console a good thump.

As if in response, a disembodied voice snapped at him accusingly, "Do you mind?" the voice demanded in a high nasal British accent, "I happen to be conducting some very precise and very delicate diagnostic programs and _you're_ generating disruptive seismic vibrations that are interfering—"

"The damn hologram is still on the fritz," Garrick complained, giving the recalcitrant computer another good solid whack while eyeing the still stubbornly hazy holograph projection for any visual changes.

"Oh yes, that _will_ teach it the errors of it's ways and no doubt inspire it to immediately fix itself," the voice said in the best sarcastic dust dry tone that only the best British accents could accomplish.

Despite himself, Jay Garrick couldn't help but suppress a slight shudder at the perfect mimicry of the late Clifford DeVoe.

A British mathematician attached to the original Japanese project to develop the quantum computer known as BRAINIAC and later to the JSA itself, DeVoe had inherited the task of replacing Naoko Akagi after her untimely death. DeVoe had dedicated himself to creating an improved version of the BRAINIAC computer that he immodestly dubbed "The Thinker".

Technically speaking, the Thinker did not demonstrate any dramatic or significant breakthroughs in computational ability, memory, storage, or even hardware. But what DeVoe had dedicated the remainder of his life to was the programming of the artificial intelligence itself.

The original BRAINIAC was self-aware to a basic sense, but it had only the most rudimentary personality. But Garrick (and everyone else) believed that the Thinker could have done without said personality.

Essentially because the personality in question was arrogant, condescending, pompous, fussy, finicky, petulant, stuffy, and prissy to the extreme.

And bore a remarkable resemblance to the late Clifford DeVoe as well. _It wasn't enough that the damn computer has to imitate his vocal patterns,_ thought Garrick, _but does it have to _act_ like him as well?_

Garrick wondered not for the first time if DeVoe hadn't somehow impressed his _own_ personality upon the Thinker. It would certainly explain some things.

Garrick had never been close friends with DeVoe but the man's genius had been undeniable and with the loss of Akagi, unfortunately almost irreplaceable. Which meant that he had been forced to tolerate DeVoe and his quirks. He hadn't realized that he would have to endure them even _after_ the man was dead and buried though.

"So then what's wrong with the hologram?" Garrick demanded.

"Diagnostics complete. Some minor burnouts and circuit boards need replacing. Probably due to the minor power surges and energy fluctuations from the worldwide electromagnetic pulse," the Thinker said after a moment.

A split second after that, the entire hologram blinked and snapped off. Garrick heard the air vents cycling before the hologram flashed back on and after a moment of opaque fuzziness around the borders of the image, became a picture of crystal clear clarity.

"I have bypassed the damaged sections, using the secondary relays and have updated the maintenance logs so the technicians will be able to replace the damaged sections during their next maintenance cycle." the Thinker said in a smug tone of voice that said, _'something you mere organics were obviously incapable of performing, you're welcome,'_.

Garrick was barely aware of the Thinker's remarks as he found himself staring at a magnified image of Sachiel. Breathing membrane flaps opened and closed rhythmically as the Angel stood in the midst of a cauldron of nuclear fire, silently regenerating itself.

Unlike before, the creature seemed actually injured. It's flesh was torn and burned. Blood or some other type of fluid like ichor was splattered across it's torso.

Instead of simply repairing itself, it appeared to be literally regenerating new organs, new skin and flesh while the old, damaged ones were being sloughed off. It sort of reminded Garrick of a snake shedding it's old skin. It was impressive. It was disgusting. He caught his breath and then shook himself alert.

"An impressive display of electromagnetic interference. _'It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury ... signifying nothing,'_" the Thinker quoted before continuing in his arch tone, "It astounds me at how your feeble organic brains are just incapable of grasping the ineffectiveness of the destructive yield of an N2 against a fully deployed Absolute Terror Field."

"Yes, yes," Garrick waved off to quickly interrupt the pompous AI, aware of the behavior traits that usually preceded one of the Thinker's all too frequent lecturing about the fallibility of organic based intelligences. Unfortunately the Thinker was absolutely convinced that the A in AI stood for _**advanced**_ rather than _artificial_, "so then why isn't it pressing forward with it's attack?" he demanded.

"Unknown," the Thinker admitted.

Garrick raised a wry eyebrow, "You mean an advanced intellect such as yourself doesn't know everything?" Garrick placed a hand over his heart dramatically, "I think I'm in shock," he said mockingly.

"My decision making processes utilize logic chains, probability trees, and rationality Professor," the Thinker said in it's iciest tone of voice, "so I am somewhat at a disadvantage when trying to anticipate the actions of a life form which may or may not employ such measures. However if you insist," the Thinker paused, purely for dramatic effect Garrick was sure, "there is a 63.17 percent probability that the XT is evaluating and analyzing the N2 attack which it has never before encountered; a 12.91 percent chance that it has momentarily exhausted it's available energy reserves and is recharging itself; a 10.56 percent possibility that part of it's unknown prime directives involve not initiating offensive operations until it is at peak operating capacity; and a 9.33 percent chance that it may have sustained vital injury with potential life threatening effects. With a margin of error of approximately 4.03 percent due to current variables of course."

Garrick winced despite himself. He had asked for it but still hearing the heartless mathematic probabilities laid out for him was almost too much for him to stand. He felt his gore rising up and forced it down.

There was suddenly a flash of light and the image instantly turned to static.

"Oh shit." Garrick cursed as he leapt to his feet. "Switch to another camera feed!" he barked.

The image blanked momentarily and a new, more distant view of Sachiel appeared along with a rapidly expanding ball of light in midair that used to be an expensive remote camera drone.

"Confirmed, the XT is still operational." The Thinker said a trifle bit too smugly for Garrick's taste.

"You think?" Garrick snapped.

"It is my primary function," the Thinker remarked blandly, "I—" and suddenly paused. Garrick inclined his head, clearly something had caught the AI's attention despite it's multi-tasking capabilities and it was forced to 'concentrate' on the ongoing situation more closely, "—we appear to have a problem, Professor." The Thinker said in a sour tone of voice.

"A problem? What kind of problem?"

The Thinker was silent for a moment. "It's a new problem regarding an old, long standing difficulty," the AI said delicately after a moment.

Garrick chewed the inside of his cheek thoughtfully as he tried to decipher that cryptic statement. Then his face cleared as understanding dawned and he sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose with one hand and moaned, feeling a familiar headache beginning to form. "Asuka." he groaned.

"For an organic intellect, you do have your moments Professor,"

* * *

Misato grimaced as she tried again, thrusting herself forward but once more she remained well and truly stuck. She lay there for a moment, jammed halfway in and halfway out of the window frame of her car and caught her breath for a second.

_Memo to self, go on a diet!_ With a muttered curse and an audible grunt, she sucked in her stomach as much as she could and tried shoving herself again. This time however she popped free. Misato would have cried out triumphantly at her hard won freedom except her skirt was riding up and she was breathing dirt through her nostrils.

Instead she slithered forward, remembering that she had done this in basic training as she crawled away from her sports car before propping herself to her hands and knees.

Swaying she got to her feet and heard something crack in her back. Wincing, she straightened upright and heard more joints popping. _I'm getting too old for this,_ she thought. Absently she dusted herself off as she studied her car lying upside down. This was definitely going to be a problem. She quickly surveyed her surroundings as she reached into a pocket and pulled out her phone. She flipped it open and punched in a number and held to her ear. Static. With a grimace she tried another number. Then another series. All she got was static. She glanced at the various readouts on the phone and shrugged. _Right EMP,_ she noted ruefully and closed it again with a snap.

The phone was probably fine but the carrier waves were all scrambled right now in the wake of the electromagnetic pulse. She would just have to try again later. _In the meantime..._ she crouched down and poked her head inside her car, "You doing OK Shinji?" she asked.

Still buckled in and dangling upside down, Shinji Ikari drawled, "Peachy."

Misato grunted and rummaged around the accumulated junk now resting on the ceiling before successfully extracting the electrobinoculars. She held them up to her eyes and activated them. An amplified view immediately snapped up and flickered momentarily before stabilizing. _Let's hear it for military technology,_ Misato silently applauded.

"Right. Stay here. I'll be right back," Misato said and trotted off to find the highest bit of elevation she could find and see what was going on.

Shinji waited a minute. Then another. The blood was rushing to his head. "Forget this," he muttered and began his escape. With one arm extended to the ceiling of the car, he fumbled around with his other hand to unbuckle himself. Successful, his other hand quickly extended itself to the ceiling so he was performing a sort of handstand. With some grunting, he managed to extricate himself from the seat and flipped himself over and squeezed out of the window of the sports car and swore as he stubbed his toe on something hard and metallic. Wincing, he crabwalked sidewards and pushed himself free.

Then he glanced down and saw what he had struck with his foot. Lying in a crumbled heap lay the motionless body of the servitor droid. Shinji picked it up and studied it. "Geez, I totally forgot I was carrying this thing around," he remarked to himself. Absently he remembered Misato picking it up and pitching it with his bag into the backseat of the car.

A flashing light caught his attention. Shinji squinted as he read the words scrolling across the blank faceplate of the robot.

PLEASE WAIT ...

REBOOT COMPLETE.

PROGRAM START.

Instantly he heard something whining to life inside the body of the robot. Slowly the robot began to hover in midair. The head unit slowly spun around before fixating on Shinji and it's entire body smoothly swiveled in place. In a flat and emotionless voice the robot recited tonelessly, "Subject. Human. Male. Designating as default controller."

Instantly a scanning beam leapt out from it's faceplate and ran up and down Shinji's body before blinking off.

"Identification Registered. Ikari, Shinji. Date of Birth; June 6, 2001. Age 14. Blood Type; A. Ethnicity; Japanese. Biological Father; Gendo Rokubungi, deceased. Biological Mother; Yui Ikari. Additional information..." the robot tilted it's head unit slightly before continuing, "... additional information is _**Classified**_."

"Classified?" Shinji blurted out. "What's classified?" he demanded rhetorically even as he wondered. _My grades? My book reports? My library card?_

"Accessing JSSDF Military Network. Sub-directory, Japanese Scientific Analysis and Advisory Board." the robot continued in a monotone voice as lines of codes danced over the faceplate, "Designated as EXO-Frame Pilot Candidate. Former Status, Reservist. Current Status, Activated."

Shinji frowned. _EXO-what?_ He suddenly had a sneaking suspicion that his mother had more in mind than a family reunion.

Suddenly his attention was attracted by the hovering robot. It was twitching in midair. Static flickered across the flat monitor of it's face and then sparks came spewing out. Shinji took a step backwards. _Uh oh. Did I miswire something—_

The robot gave a cough and dropped to the ground with an audible clunk. It wheezed and then it straightened itself and looked around and one spindly arm reached up to scratch the dome of it's head unit as it looked extremely confused.

"Ow." The droid said in a surprisingly new voice. Unlike it's former toneless, emotionless synthesized voice, this one was ... well, the only word that sprang to Shinji's mind was it was so _human_ sounding. The robot looked around seemingly perplexed, "This is ... something's different. I think. I think?" it repeated and craned it's neck as if perplexed, "I _am_ thinking. I _can_ think. How odd."

_Yeah,_ Shinji thought bug-eyed as he stared at the seemingly human-like behavior of the robot, _no kidding_.

* * *

Snapper was dimly aware of the rising cascade of voices filled with urgency and panic.

They were shouting. Arguing.

He glanced down at his clenched hands.

It wasn't fair. It really wasn't. He shouldn't have to do this. Hell, even Washington didn't have to endure more than eight years of the Presidency! What more did anybody expect of him? He shouldn't have to do this.

_Didn't he?_

Snapper closed his eyes as he felt his self honesty rearing it's ugly head.

He could have resigned. Hell, he **should** have resigned long before this. But he didn't. Why didn't he? Because he was a coward. Too afraid to be President yet too afraid to decline. So he had just stayed in limbo, trying his best not to make any decisions at all. It was easier that way. Simpler. Safer. He opened his eyes and stared at the floor plates.

And he remembered.

_He was just a kid. Trapped in Middle School. Forced to take classes that he didn't understand why he needed, forced to absorb useless trivia so he could regurgitate on some test at a later date that he would never use again. Forced to do what some people called "learn". _

_He couldn't remember the name of the class, if it was civics or social studies or something else, not even the teacher's name. But he remembered that one day, in the middle of the class, the teacher had abruptly stopped reading from the text book and shut the book. It had taken everyone about a minute or so to realize it and look up. _

_The teacher was studying them intently. Then he asked, _"What does all this mean?"

_Dead silence. _

"Surely you must have an opinion about it."_ the teacher prodded. _

"Is this going to be on a test?" _someone called out from the back of the room. _

"Not on any written test," _the teacher said, _"But there are tests ... and tests. Some tests you will undergo at a later date, some will be ones you won't even realize you are taking or have taken yet. We've been reading about your rights given to you by the Constitution. Your right to free speech, to bear arms, to assembly, to choose your own religion, and most importantly of all, your right to vote. Now, how many of you are planning to do so?"

_One or two people tentatively raised their hands almost afraid he was going to pounce on them or something. _

_The teacher just shook his head sadly. _"Do you know how many men and women died to give you the ability to chose for yourselves? How many of them pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor and risked everything from imprisonment to death for you? You have rights!" _the teacher exploded, holding up the text book and shook it at the entire room, _"You have so many rights! And most of you don't seem to appreciate it! This is the United States of America! This country was founded on the principles of freedom of choice and it is the most powerful country in the entire world! Yet barely one-third of you plan to participate in electing your leaders in the future!"

"Why bother?" _Snapper heard a boyish young voice asking and barely recognized it as his own. _

_The teacher turned to look at him. _"Why bother?" _he repeated with a tone of incredibility. _

_Snapper remembered feeling his face flush in embarrassment as the rest of the class began looking at him as well. _"Yeah, I mean, why should we bother voting? I'm not rich. I'm not important. I'm just one person. Nobody is going to care what I think. The politicians don't. They're all chosen by people with money and power. It doesn't matter if I vote at all. Everybody knows it. That's the way it is."

_The teacher just looked at him for a long moment. _"If that is what you believe, then nothing will ever change," _he said in a dispirited tone of finality._

Snapper suspected he knew why _now_ of all times, that memory would choose to resurface. Because now he was the President of the United States. For all intents and purposes, he WAS the United States of America. Or at least he stood for it. Or he was suppose to.

He had been chosen. By chance or fate or maybe just pure dumb luck. And deep down he felt unworthy of it. Incapable of it. Perhaps he was. Perhaps he would fail. Or falter. But somehow, somewhere he felt a surge of defiant anger for the first time. Because with the fate of the entire world at stake, he would be _**damned**_ if he didn't at least try.

"Ladies and gentlemen," his calm voice cut across the shouting, "I move that we activate the JLA Protocols."

There was a long pregnant pause as everyone stopped their arguing at the sudden interruption.

Then the entire room exploded.

* * *

**A/N:** In case you missed it, the members of the UN Security Council happen to be actual DC Universe characters. Arani Desai is the civilian identity of Celsius of the second Doom Patrol (or at least, her pre-married name as she was Arani Desai Calder, the wife of the Chief of the Doom Patrol). Albrecht von Mannheim on the other hand is the Wild Huntsman, formerly of the Global Guardians. Both of whom are currently deceased, last I heard. I wanted to have an actual national citizen to actually represent their respective countries, so I thought it was only fitting.

On another note, when I wrote this episode for _Anime Addventures,_ I had a bunch of comments about the N2. So I'll relate my own response to the various comments. One of the MANY vague things about the Evangelion series was the N2 devices. I think I read somewhere that the N2 stood for "Non Nuclear" but I wasn't sure where and my editor didn't know for sure either. I try to base most of my writings on the Evangelion TV episodes so I'm not aware exactly how the N2 do actually work. However, the impression that I received was the N2 was some sort of upgraded nuclear weapon.

So I created my own version of it. My universe's version is a bomb that uses a synthetic radioactive core that has an incredibly short half-life that any radioactive fallout becomes inert in a matter of minutes and incidentally delivers a much more powerful explosive force than a conventional nuclear bomb of comparable size. This synthetic radioactive element was derived from Kal-El's spaceship in case you were wondering.

So the N2 is a "clean" nuke. But the one drawback is that the whole thing generates a MASSIVE electromagnetic pulse. And the reason why I added that in was because I wanted the N2 to be regarded as a weapon of last resort, a doomsday apocalyptic weapon that they would use out of sheer desperation because the effects are so scary. To be frank, the Evangelion guys sure didn't seem to have any problems with using their N2 if the situation called for it.

For those inquiring minds who want to know, Jay Garrick is the real identity of the original Flash naturally. Garrick is the one who fought in World War II and wore the Hermes helmet. Clifford DeVoe is also the real identity of the Thinker, who was one of Garrick's original foes as well. DeVoe originally was a criminal mastermind who later got an upgrade with a "thinking cap" that enhanced his intelligence and gave him limited mental powers.

DeVoe eventually succumbed to one of the most unlikely deaths in comics. Old age. However he, or at least a version of him was resurrected in the modern DC era as an electronic "ghost" of sorts and has continued to bedevil Garrick and those who have inherited his heroic legacy.

I thought it appropriate that DeVoe or the Thinker would reappear as the BRAINIAC computer of Fortress-2.

DeVoe's quote: _"It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury ... signifying nothing,"_ incidentally comes from Shakespeare's Hamlet.

The original full quotation goes:

"_Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player  
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage  
And then is heard no more.  
It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury  
Signifying nothing." _


End file.
